Alfred Hitchcock said, "This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book -- it makes a very poor doorstop."
In this deal, you need to find two unlockable doors -- two entries to the dummy. Can you see how to open them? Against your contract of three no-trump, West leads the club queen.
South's sequence showed a balanced hand with 23 or 24 high-card points. North wasn't wildly enthusiastic about raising to game, but 25 or 26 points are 25 or 26 points, enough to bid game in no-trump or in a major. It would not surprise North to watch his partner go down, but the game bonus, especially when vulnerable, is so huge that it pays to gamble.
You have seven top tricks: one spade, one heart, three diamonds and two clubs. Assuming the missing diamonds are 3-2, which the probability table says will happen 67.8 percent of the time, you are up to eight. The ninth should be obtainable from spades, but you must take two finesses in the suit, which require two dummy entries. One of these is the diamond queen, but what is the second door -- entry?
It must be the diamond six. After taking the first trick with your club king, cash the ace and king of diamonds. When they do divide favorably, lead your diamond nine to dummy's queen. Next play a spade to your jack. Presumably West will win with his king and continue with the club 10. Take that with your ace, overtake your carefully conserved diamond four with dummy's six, and play a spade to your 10. When that finesse works, you can claim nine tricks.
In this deal, you need to find two unlockable doors -- two entries to the dummy. Can you see how to open them? Against your contract of three no-trump, West leads the club queen.
South's sequence showed a balanced hand with 23 or 24 high-card points. North wasn't wildly enthusiastic about raising to game, but 25 or 26 points are 25 or 26 points, enough to bid game in no-trump or in a major. It would not surprise North to watch his partner go down, but the game bonus, especially when vulnerable, is so huge that it pays to gamble.
You have seven top tricks: one spade, one heart, three diamonds and two clubs. Assuming the missing diamonds are 3-2, which the probability table says will happen 67.8 percent of the time, you are up to eight. The ninth should be obtainable from spades, but you must take two finesses in the suit, which require two dummy entries. One of these is the diamond queen, but what is the second door -- entry?
It must be the diamond six. After taking the first trick with your club king, cash the ace and king of diamonds. When they do divide favorably, lead your diamond nine to dummy's queen. Next play a spade to your jack. Presumably West will win with his king and continue with the club 10. Take that with your ace, overtake your carefully conserved diamond four with dummy's six, and play a spade to your 10. When that finesse works, you can claim nine tricks.