| 1. Partner leads the 2. | |||||||||||
| List 6 thngs we know about p's and declarer's hand. | |||||||||||
| 1) | He has 4 spades (he led the 4th down and there are no lower ones in his hand since you can see them) | ||||||||||
| 2) | He has no 5 card or longer suit | ||||||||||
| 3) | His distribution is either 4441, 4432, 4333 | ||||||||||
| 4) | Spades are his strongest 4 card suit | ||||||||||
| 5) | He doesn't have a sequence in any suit | ||||||||||
| 6) | We know how many spades declarer has | ||||||||||
| 2. Partner leads the 6. | |||||||||||
| The 6 is the lowest outstanding spade. Assuming it is fourth highest, West has only a fourcard | |||||||||||
| spade suit. | |||||||||||
| Declarer must only have 3. (4 to partner, 3 in dummy, 3 in my hand… that leaves only 3 for declarer) | |||||||||||
| 3. Partner leads the 7. How many spades does partner have? | |||||||||||
| 4 or 5: | |||||||||||
| The 7 might be his 4th card from a 4 card suit - but it might be his 4th down from a 5 card suit. | |||||||||||
| We can't see the 6 so Partner might have it which give partner 5 cards in the suit. We can't tell | |||||||||||
| until we see the 6. (The 6 is the only lower card missing below the 7.) | |||||||||||
| If declarer | |||||||||||
| plays the 6 at some point during the play, East will know that West started | |||||||||||
| with only a four-card suit. If West plays the 6 at some later point in the | |||||||||||
| play, East will know that West started with a five-card suit — assuming East | |||||||||||
| remembers that West originally led the 7. | |||||||||||
| 4. Partner leads the 7, dummy plays the 3. | |||||||||||
| East should play the 2, letting West’s 7 | |||||||||||
| win the trick! If the 7 is West’s fourth highest card in the suit, West must | |||||||||||
| also hold the Q, 10 and 8, since these are the only three spades | |||||||||||
| higher than the 7. | |||||||||||
| 5. If east doesn't play the 2.. | |||||||||||
| If east were to play the 9 or the J on the first trick, East would win the trick and be on lead. East couldn’t | |||||||||||
| lead the suit a second time, without giving a trick to dummy’s K. | |||||||||||
| 6. What does the lead of the 4 tell partner? | |||||||||||
| Partner has 4 spades. (You can see the 2 and the 3). | |||||||||||
| The rule of eleven means declarer has 2 cards in the suit and both are higher than the 4 (there | |||||||||||
| are no lower ones left!) | |||||||||||
| Eleven minus four is seven. East can see two higher | |||||||||||
| cards than the 4 in dummy, the K and the 5. East holds three higher | |||||||||||
| cards, the A, the J and the 9. That leaves two cards higher than the | |||||||||||
| 4 in declarer’s hand | |||||||||||
| What card should East play if dummy plays low? | |||||||||||
| East knows declarer has 2 cards in the suit - Partner has 4, dummy 3 and east holds 4. | |||||||||||
| The only card higher than Dummy's King and East's ace is the Queen. East won't know if | |||||||||||
| declarer has the queen or not, so east plays the highest card he can play while still keeping the honor | |||||||||||
| over the King - East plays the Jack. | |||||||||||
| We've learned that if declarer has the king and the queen in a suit, he is entitled to one trick. | |||||||||||
| If east plays the ace when dummy plays low, declarer will get two tricks, the king AND the queen! | |||||||||||