The Cluey Way To Find Her Ladyship
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 16, 1999
The ability to gather clues along the way then use them is worth its weight in gold when it comes to playing the hand. Too many players are lazy with their recall, falling into the rut of just looking at the tricks one at a time and hoping for the best.
When the K-Q of diamonds were allowed to hold, the continuation of the 10 dislodged the ace. Those first two tricks placed West with five of the defence's 18 points, leaving him scope to hold only one more. East had shown a minimum of 12 by opening 1NT. With no reason to suspect it wasn't a dinkum no-trump, Thompson calculated it had to include the queen of clubs.
Declarer went over to the ace of clubs, ran the jack, cashed the king, and had a second-round spade entry to make three more club tricks. That meant nine tricks overall for plus 600, a big score on the board compared with the datum of 130.
Imagine the opening lead is a heart or a spade. The club position is less clear. With 18 points missing, either West or East can have the queen. Holding nine clubs in the combined hands, declarer may play for the drop by banging down the A-K.
© 1999 Sydney Morning Herald