Bridge in the Tri-Cities: An Instructional Hand

Opening Lead: Ten of hearts

John Feo sent me this hand from a Monday night duplicate game

The Bidding: East opened 1H and South made a take-out double. West bid 2H and north cue-bid 3H. South closed out the bidding with 4S.

The Play: After winning the ace of hearts, what do you do? You need the ace of diamonds on side. If you draw trumps and they are 4-2, you are going down. If you play clubs, the opponents will eventually ruff in and play hearts forcing your last trump. Now when you knock out the ace of diamonds, the opponents will either draw your last trump and run the hearts or play hearts forcing you to ruff with your last spade.

The Solution: Play a diamond from dummy at trick two. If East wins the ace and plays hearts, you discard a losing diamond from your hand. Now you can ruff the third heart in dummy with the short trump holding. If East ducks the diamond, you draw three rounds of trump and play clubs. Whether or not the trumps break 3/3 or not, you have 10 tricks.

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: An Instructional Hand."