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Bridge 3/12
Place the cards, then plan your play
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    Bob Hope said, "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it."
    In this deal, if you correctly place the missing trump queen, you still cannot take your contract to the bank. You must make the correct play and get lucky.
    Without peeking over the cashier's shoulder at the East-West assets, how would you play in four spades? West leads the club king. East wins with his bare ace and shifts to a heart. West takes his ace, cashes the club queen, and plays a third club. Over to you.
    This deal is based on one described by Ron Klinger in his book "Guide to Better Bridge."
    North had a textbook takeout double over West's pre-emptive opening bid. Then South was right to jump to four spades. He knew of at least an eight-card spade fit, so added two points for his singleton. Remember that a bid of three spades would have promised zero points.
    You need the rest of the tricks. If West has the spade queen, you must ruff with dummy's jack. West, though, has already produced 10 high-card points. If he had the spade queen as well, he would have opened one club, not three.
    So, you must ruff with dummy's spade king, or East will score his queen. But what next?
    Lead the spade jack, hoping to pin the singleton 10 in the West hand. If East does not cover with his queen, run the jack, play a spade to your nine, cash the spade ace, and claim. If East covers, win, lead a diamond to dummy's jack, and play a spade through East's eight-three to your nine-seven.
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