Problem

The Auction:

East passed. South bid 1♦. West overcalled with 2♠. North doubled (4+ hearts).  East passed. South responded with 3♣. West passed.  North asked for aces – 4NT. South answered 5♦ (standard Blackwood, 1 ace). North declared 6♦.

How can South win 12 tricks?

West led the ♠K.

Vulnerable: Both

Contract: 6♦ by South

Solution

South won the first trick with the ♠A (trick 1). Now the question was, how to get rid of the spade loser –  as the declarer missed the trump ace, he couldn`t  pull the trump, then cash in the clubs and discard a spade on a club as immediately after gaining the lead with the ♦A, defense would have cashed in the second trick with spades.

But clubs offered the only road out of the misery anyway. South led a small club to dummy`s ace (trick 2), then a small club from dummy to king (trick 3). Now the declarer led the ♣Q. West ruffed with the ♦3, the declarer overruffed (trick 4).  So the declarer couldn`t discard the spade from dummy. But he could try again – defense had only two trumps left.

South led the ♥A from dummy, discarding a spade from hand (trick 5), then led the ♥Q and as East played a small heart, ruffed (trick 6).

The declarer led the ♣J, West discarded a spade. So clubs were split 4-2 and West didn’t have any diamonds left. South discarded dummy´s last spade (trick 7) and led a spade from hand, ruffing into dummy (trick 8).

The declarer led the ♥9 from dummy and ruffed (trick 9), and led a diamond next, East`s ace won that trick (trick 10). East led a heart, the declarer ruffed (trick 11) and claimed the last two tricks with the ♦KQ (tricks 12,13).

The declarer managed to avoid losing another trick in spades by cleverly using the longest side suit – clubs. Both hands combined North/South held seven clubs. If clubs would have been split evenly (3-3),  as the declarer obviously hoped – South could have discarded the remaining spade from dummy´s hand in the third trick of clubs as dummy held only two clubs.

But clubs were split unevenly and here the declarer had to gamble that West didn`t hold the ♦A – if West had ruffed with the trump ace and then led spades, the contract would have been down -1.

Par Contract Analysis

The par contract on this deal is 6♦ by North/South.