Hand of the Week #5 (Solution) ♣

At least 1 trump loser is inevitable when missing the QJ10 and 5 trumps in total, thankfully the trumps do break 3-2 so you only have 1 loser there. The losers in spades are your concern here, but the opponents have not yet attacked our spades so our ♠A is still in place for now. You could void dummy of spades in an attempt to ruff your spade losers there, but running the long club suit looks to be a better plan to dispose of those losers. You only have 1 club in hand so you can get to dummy once and only once so you need to draw the trumps before running the clubs, to ensure that no-one spoils your party!

So, win ♦A in hand and immediately cash ♥AK. If the trumps had broken 4-1 (or worse!) you were in a bit of a pickle to be honest. The best plan then is to run as many clubs as you can until someone ruffs, and hope that by that stage you have got rid of enough spades! As the cards lie however, the hearts are breaking, so the correct play after cashing 2 top trumps is to clear them of their winning trump by playing a third heart. It is unusual to let the opponents have their winning trump but you are desperate to get it off them to stop them from ruffing a club when you are running them. Win whatever East returns and then embark on that lovely club suit. Counting them as they are played you will note that the clubs are 4-2 so ALL of your clubs are winners. As it happens you don’t need all of those discards because your 3 losing spades can go on the ♣KQJ. Playing this way you only lose 1 trick, the unavoidable trump loser!

If the opponents had started with a spade or a club lead instead, things would have been a bit more awkward. The problem with a spade lead is that they have got rid of your ♠A so you are exposed in the spade suit, and a club lead removes your one and only entry from dummy. The best play on a spade lead is to cash 2 top trumps and leave the opponent with their winning trump. Then play as many clubs as you can get away with until they ruff, discarding as many spades as you can in this time. On a club lead you can’t afford the luxury of cashing 2 top trumps first so you have to go down your clubs for as long as you can get away with it! As the cards lie you can only get 2 discards from your club suit before they ruff which keeps you to 11 tricks, as the opponents will then make a trick in spades and hearts. A spade or a club lead would be unusual from East though as they have such a ‘safe’ diamond lead from ♦QJ10xx.