Poet and actress Maya Angelou wrote, "Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, 'I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway.'"
You are the declarer in four spades, West having overcalled in clubs. West starts the defense with the ace and king of clubs. What would be your plan? Be warned — the cards show no mercy.
Opposite your weak two-bid, North's jump to four spades was aggressive. The call did make life tougher for East, though. Note that it takes good defense (North must duck the first round of hearts) to get 500 from five clubs doubled.
You have three sure losers: a heart, the diamond ace and the club ace. But if West has the ace and queen of diamonds and East gets on lead, a diamond shift will give West two tricks in the suit and defeat your contract. East is what we call the danger hand.
If you ruff the club king at trick two, draw trumps, and play on hearts, East gets in and makes the damaging diamond switch.
You must discard a heart at trick two. This ensures that East never gets the lead. Suppose West shifts to a trump. Win in your hand, play a heart to dummy's ace, ruff a heart, lead a trump to dummy's queen, and ruff a heart. This establishes the suit, so play a trump to dummy's ace and cash the hearts, discarding three diamond losers.
This is a tough example of a loser-on-loser play. However, if you consider both the danger hand and the inherent risk to your contract, you might think of the discard, whether bikini-clad or more warmly attired!
You are the declarer in four spades, West having overcalled in clubs. West starts the defense with the ace and king of clubs. What would be your plan? Be warned — the cards show no mercy.
Opposite your weak two-bid, North's jump to four spades was aggressive. The call did make life tougher for East, though. Note that it takes good defense (North must duck the first round of hearts) to get 500 from five clubs doubled.
You have three sure losers: a heart, the diamond ace and the club ace. But if West has the ace and queen of diamonds and East gets on lead, a diamond shift will give West two tricks in the suit and defeat your contract. East is what we call the danger hand.
If you ruff the club king at trick two, draw trumps, and play on hearts, East gets in and makes the damaging diamond switch.
You must discard a heart at trick two. This ensures that East never gets the lead. Suppose West shifts to a trump. Win in your hand, play a heart to dummy's ace, ruff a heart, lead a trump to dummy's queen, and ruff a heart. This establishes the suit, so play a trump to dummy's ace and cash the hearts, discarding three diamond losers.
This is a tough example of a loser-on-loser play. However, if you consider both the danger hand and the inherent risk to your contract, you might think of the discard, whether bikini-clad or more warmly attired!