Do not take a discard immediately if it can wait.
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THE BIDDING
A pretty routine auction to a good 4â™ contract.
THE PLAY
South should lead the ♦K, although this contract can be defeated easily by leading ♣A and another. However with so many points and the opponents in game, it is unlikely that partner would have that magic ♣K and the suit splitting 3-3 as well.
So on the perfectly normal ♦K lead, declarer wins the Ace and discards a ….?
The key to this hand is not to not discard anything on the ♦A. Do not play the Ace of diamonds. Instead, play low from dummy and ruff a diamond in hand. Draw two rounds of trumps ending in dummy and lead a club towards your QJ6. You know that at least one club honour is on your right as South did not lead a club honour.1 When South wins the ♣A, they will either have to open up hearts or lead a club around to your Jack, or lead another diamond giving declarer another entry to dummy to throw a heart and lead another club up.
TODAY’S TIP: Do not take a discard immediately if it can wait.Â
- Typically when on lead with both the ace and king of a suit one of the two will be led. ↩︎