This hand came up in a club f2f matchpoint game. For some reason, my partner did not even sniff at a slam. If we had been in slam, I am certain that the lead would have been less friendly.
North
AKT
J863
AQJ
J84
South
Q9832
AQ
K8
AQ76
If I had been in slam in a team game, I would have played a
toward the J. Since there is so much work to be done in the round suits, I have to assume that I will bring home the
suit. The
play would give me three tricks in the suit when West rises with the K, or East wins and the suit breaks 3-3. If West has the K and ducks, then I shift to
’s; win or lose, I would have two tricks in each minor.
However, I am in game with the friendly opening lead of a small
, won in hand by the Q. After playing the AK
, and seeing that the
finesse was necessary, I could see that the slam would be cold on a neutral lead if the !CK was onside, but would go down if declarer took both finesses and both offside.
Since I was only in game, I chose to play West for both Kings and led a
toward the J. When that held, I reconsidered the hand. It now had the elements of a Vienna Coup where the count was rectified without actually losing a trick. I just had to cash the
A (tp make the J in dummy a threat(, then play the remaining
’s and
’s ending in dummy. On the last
, West has to pitch from K
and Kx
. West actually pitched the small
, so the K fell under the A, making the Q good.
The full hand:
North
AKT
J863
AQJ
J84
West East
5
J764
KT742
95
T632
9754
KT9
532
South
Q9832
AQ
K8
AQ76