Problem

The Auction:

The auction was competitive. West opened with weak 2♠, North overcalled with 2NT and South responded with 3♦ (Jacoby transfer). North bid 3♥ and South 4♥ only to be overcalled by West – 4♠. South declared 5♥ as the final contract.

Now your task is to make this contract!

Solution

East leads the ♠8, West takes the first trick with the ♠A (trick 1) and leads the ♠3 to your king (trick 2).

West held at least six spades and as you had five between you and your partner, East probably does not have any spades left. You lead the ♠9 next to coax East into ruffing, as dummy could easily overruff.

East discards the ♣2 instead; you ruff as West plays a small spade (trick 3). Now the lead is in dummy`s hand – you lead the ♥Q, which wins the trick (trick 4).

You still have no clue what the trump split is. At least it is not 5-0, but you should always be prepared for the worst case scenario – for instance, if the split was 4-1 and East has three more hearts.

You take the next trick with the ♦Q (trick 5) and lead a small heart from dummy`s hand to your king. West discards a spade; East wins this trick with the ♥A (trick 6) and leads a small club.

East has two more trumps (one of them ♥10) and if you get stuck in dummy`s hand, you will go down. You take this trick with the ♣10 (trick 7), lead a small diamond and ruff in dummy (trick 8). Next you lead the ♣J from dummy and take this trick with the ♣Q (trick 9). Then you lead the ♦A and ♦K, discarding the ♣A and ♣K from dummy`s hand (tricks 10, 11).

Now you can safely lead clubs. East`s last cards are two hearts and he is forced to ruff with the ♥5, only to be overruffed by the dummy`s ♥8 (trick 12). The last trick is won by the dummy`s ♥J.

With 28 HCP this seemed rather an easy deal to play. Trump suit of eight hearts was a good one; although you missed the ♥A. After pulling down the trumps you should have been able to collect the rest of the tricks –as you had all the honors in clubs and three honors in diamonds.

However, the trump was split 4-1 and you had to use trump coup not to go down. As North had no trumps left to finesse, you used trump coup. For a successful trump coup you needed to shorten the dummy`s hearts while making sure the lead will be in North`s hand for the last tricks. Luckily clubs offered some room for maneuvering.

Can you think of another way to make this the contract?

Par Contract Analysis

The par contract on this deal is 5♥ by North (South).