Play a Hand #1A


Page 5	North J x A K J x A K x A J x x	Bid is 6 H
West K 10 x x x 9 x x 9 x 10 x x		East Q x x x x x x x x Q 9 x x
	South A 9 x x Q 10 x x Q J 10 K x

Replay Of The Hand

Taking another look at the hand you see an even better plan. Instead of ruffing Spades in Dummy, ruff the loser clubs in your hand. This is better since you can play 2 rounds of trump, cash the AC and KC and start ruffing Clubs all without giving up the lead like you did before.


Page 6	North J x A K J x A K x A J x x	Bid is 6 H
West K 10 x x x 9 x x 9 x 10 x x		East Q x x x x x x x x Q 9 x x
	South A 9 x x Q 10 x x Q J 10 K x

Replay Of The Hand

But look what happens when you try to do this.

1)	The 9D is led and won with the King.
2)	The AH is played to draw trump.
3)	The KH draws a 2nd round of trump.
4)	Low to the KC.


Page 7	North J x J x A x A J x	Bid is 6 H N/S =4 E/W=0
West K 10 x x x 9 x 10 x		East Q x x x x x Q 9 x
	South A 9 x x Q 10 Q J x

Replay Of The Hand

Now let's get rid of the last Club and ruff some Clubs.

5)	Low back to the AC.
6)	Ruff a Club in the South hand.
7)	A Diamond to the Ace.
8)	Ruff Dummy's last Club.


Page 8	North J x J x x	Bid is 6 H N/S =8 E/W=0
West K 10 x x 9		East Q x x x x
	South A 9 x x Q

Replay Of The Hand

You've just ruffed a Club in your hand. Now how do you get to Dummy to draw their last trump? West discarded a Diamond when you were ruffing Clubs! So you have to ruff a Spade to get there. When you play AS then low to the JS, East wins the Queen and leads back another Diamond for West to ruff! It looked easier to ruff the Clubs in your hand rather than the Spades in Dummy. But now you see that no matter what, you still have to give them a Spade trick.


Page 9	North J x A J x x	Bid is 6 H N/S =7 E/W=0
West K 10 x x 9 x		East Q x x x x x
	South A 9 x x x Q

Replay Of The Hand

The key once again is to lead trumps only once. Now you can cash the high clubs, ruff a club high in your hand, get back to Dummy with a Diamond (before West throws theirs away!), ruff another Club high and you arrive at the position seen at left. Now get back to Dummy with a 2nd round of trump and finally draw their last trump. They get their Spade trick on the very last trick.


Page 10	North J x A K J x A K x A J x x	Bid is 6 H
West K 10 x x x 9 x x 9 x 10 x x		East Q x x x x x x x x Q 9 x x
	South A 9 x x Q 10 x x Q J 10 K x

Replay Of The Hand

The lesson learned is that when you are going to be ruffing with high trumps that the opponents cannot possibly overruff, you can use you trumps for transportation before giving up a trick to them. Don't let them take you "2 for 1"

Thanks for Playing.

	New hand later. Come back and play again.
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