Dlr: South
Vul: None

          North
            T
            76
            AKQJ542
            KT4

West                    East
  QJ75                 K984
  T9                    QJ2
  876                  9
  AQ75                j8632

          South
            A632
            AK8543
            T3
            9

Auction:
North     East   South   West
 1          P     2         P
 2          P     4         P
    P          P

This hand became interesting because of the Dare to Practice session.  There was a similar hand that came up that nearly every declarer got wrong.  The Dare hand required that you give up an early trump in order to retain control of a side suit; if you did this, then you made the contract, if not, you were down.

On this hand, the defense started with the Q .  My initial thought was to ruff two spades, then play three rounds of trump, hoping that they split,  I would lose a , and . 

I then realized that there was an alternative line that might net an additional trick while practicing one of the techniques coming out of Angel Blue's lessons.  I still needed trump to break, but instead of ruffing any spades, I give up a trump at trick two.  That way, I still have control of the spades, and do not need give up that trick. 

So at trick two, I led a trump.  West overtook the trick to lead a (trying for a Merrimack coup, perhaps - cutting my communication with dummy).  My ten won the trick, two rounds of trump pulled the defensive teeth, and a to dummy completed 12 tricks.

Obviously, the best contract is 6 , but few found their way to a diamond contract, and the one that reached the slam failed to find the winning line on a trump lead.  Primarily, you need to be flexible to take whatever opportunity the defense allows.

On the trump lead, you need to play for 's to break - play AK and ruff the third round, and after pulling trump, use the A to get back for the winning 's.

On a lead, you lose to the A, the K is now good, and you get to ruff the last .  Everything else will be top tricks.

On a lead, you win and lead a hoping the ace is onside.  It is, so then you just need to ruff the small and take top tricks.

CORRECTED as identified by Ken Berg

Dlr: South
Vul: E-W

          North
            J74
            A2
            A654
            KQ54

West                    East
  AQ2                  6
  Q753                JT98
  J9                    QT73
  JT98                 A762

          South
            KT9853
            K64
            K82
            3

Contract: 4!S by South with no opposing bidding

This hand was in a Dare to Practice session, set up to practice declaring techniques.  I have rotated the hands clockwise to make it easier to read.

The required lead was the J , covered by dummy and ducked by East.  The point of the hand is to ruff a before touching trump.  AQx are ill placed, and if you try to get the kids off the street first, you find that the defense can pull dummy's last trump before a losing is ruffed. 

That being said, I got the point of the hand correct, but my partner (Postmortem) pointed out as I claimed, that I might also have the opportunity for a squeeze.  And he was right.  Lets go over the play:

As mentioned above, the required lead was the J , covered by dummy and ducked by East.  I then played three rounds of  's to ruff the third.  A to the ten lost to the Q.  The defense continued with the A and the Q , which I ruffed.  If, instead of claiming, I ran my , dummy would come down to AX and K , and my hand down to only.  What three cards does East hold onto?  Either the A has to go, or come down to three 's.  East cannot keep the four cards needed to prevent my making the extra trick.

Here I am playing in an event to practice such techniques, I actually get two techniques to practice, and I fail to take advantage of the extra opportunity. 

Dlr: East
Vul: E-W

          North
            A
            AKT93
            A92
            AKQ8

West                    East
  6543                 92
  54                    Q62
  KQJ8753           T4
                          JT6542

          South
            KQJT87
            J87
            6
            973

Auction:
East   South   West   North
 P        2     5      7
 P          P        D         P
 P          P

I was sitting East and partner started the K .  I was stunned when dummy came down.  I thought surely some of those cards would be with partner for the double.  I also thought that partner must surely have a honor - another faulty assumption.

Declarer won the A, cashed the A , ruffed a , then started running  's.  Unfortunately for declarer, the first pitch was dummy's last .  Now all I had to do was match dummy in the round suits, and the contract goes down.

If declarer holds onto that last diamond, consider what happens to my (East) hand.  As declarer finishes pulling trump, pitching  's , there is no problem with my pitching  's.  Now the AK 's, leaving the J as a blind threat in declarer's hand, followed by a  .  I have to hold onto the fourth , so I pitch the Q .  Now the J is good to take care of the losing ; if I keep the Q, then the fourth in dummy will be good.

Granted it is not an easy hand to play; I am not certain what the best line would be.  If I were declaring, I don't think I would pitch the diamond that early, but once I found out that the spades were breaking 4-2, I suspect I would want to combine chances by holding onto all four 's and the AKT of 's.  Then I could play three rounds of 's (in case they happen to break), cash a top , ruff a , and take the losing finesse.

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