K Q x 
Q J x x
Q 10 
A x x x
![[W - E]](t.gif)
3
x x x A K x x A 9 8 x J x by South
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| K Q x Q J x x Q 10 A x x x
| |
|
| ||
| Lead: 3
| x x x A K x x A 9 8 x J x |
At last another fine hand. I opened a weak notrump as south. North bid stayman, doubled by east, after
which I became declarer in 4. How do you play after the lead of the
3?
A quick analysis shows 1 club loser, 1 or 2 spade losers, and 1 or 2 diamond losers. The diamond loser can be held to 1 by taking the right finesse. The spade loser can be held to 1 if the spade ace is right, or by throwing a spade on a good diamond and ruffing a spade. So, all one has to do is to pull trumps and start developing those diamonds. Or not?
Obviously, the lead is a singleton, and clubs are divided 1-6. That makes it much more likely that trumps
will split 4-1. Also, the south hand is short of entries. I therefore decided to run the Q
immediately, taking a double finesse through east. West won and shifted to a heart for the queen. I
continued with the 10, for the jack and ace. Testing the trumps now with the ace, disclosed
the 4-1 trump split. Now there was only one option left: the A on-side. A spade to the king,
two rounds of trumps, two rounds of diamonds, and a spade towards the queen resulted in 10 tricks as the
complete layout was:
|
| K Q x Q J x x Q 10 A x x x
| |
| A x x x 10 9 x x K x x x x
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| J x x x J x x K Q x x x x
|
| x x x A K x x A 9 8 x J x |
An analysis with Deep Finesse shows that pulling two rounds of trumps is fatal. One round of trumps is allowable. If you win the trump in dummy you have to run the diamond queen next, if you win the trump in hand, you have to play a spade towards the king. With any other play, the game can be defeated.