A defensive problem
from a Crockford's Plate match.
You lead the heart
four declarer plays the ten from dummy, partner's queen wins the trick
with declarer playing the three. Partner returns the six of
hearts and declarer plays the eight. Which heart do you play and
why?
Solution
Partner has KQxx(x)
of hearts, when you get in with the diamond jack (or spade ace) you
will play the heart jack. Unless you have played the nine of
hearts on the second trick, if partner has five hearts, then he is on a
guess as to whether you have led from J54, in which case he must
overtake
to run the suit or from J954 in which case he must play low to avoid
blocking the suit. If you unblock the heart nine then he can
safely overtake in either case. Fortunately at the table three
hearts a spade and a diamond were enough to beat the contract, but it
could have gone more off.
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