Bridge - The Scotsman 15/03/2012

Thursday’s puzzle...

The lead of a singleton can be devastating. When partner has the ace of the suit led and another entry, declarer is down before he has the chance to win a trick.

Of course, it does not always work so well; sometimes it simply helps declarer establish a side suit by picking up an honour holding in partner’s hand.

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On this deal from a league match, East decided to show a good high card raise to 4H with a Jacoby 2NT rather than splinter in clubs. South stuck in a lead-directing overcall, and North’s raise to the five level gave East a problem. He could collect 300 from 5C doubled, but chose to bid 5H, a contract he expected to make. North led the nine of spades.

The normal play in hearts is to take two finesses, but declarer saw the danger of a ruff, so she won in hand and led a heart to the ace. When the queen dropped it looked like a singleton. In that case, if she played another heart, North would win the king and put partner in with a club to make his spade ruff. Was there a way to avert this?

If South had five spades, and the long clubs he had advertised with his overcall, he was surely short in the red suits.

It should be possible to cash four diamonds, discarding both clubs from hand, before playing a second heart. This is a form of Scissors Coup, where declarer averts a ruff by cutting the communication between the hands.

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