Fullarton Teams Final 3 Board 27

Board 27 South Deals None Vul	♠ Q J 6 4 2 ♥ A J 10 7 ♦ — ♣ A J 5 3
♠ 9 ♥ Q 6 4 3 ♦ Q J 9 ♣ K Q 10 6 2	N  W E S	♠ 10 7 3 ♥ 8 ♦ 10 8 7 6 5 4 ♣ 9 8 4
	♠ A K 8 5 ♥ K 9 5 2 ♦ A K 3 2 ♣ 7

West	North	East	South
Livingston	Aldridge	Burrows	McLeod
			1 ♣1
Pass	1 ♠2	Pass	4 ♣3
Pass	4 NT4	Pass	5 ♣5
Dbl	5 NT6	Pass	6 ♥7
Pass	7 ♠	Pass	Pass
Pass

16+ any distribution 8+ with 5+ spades Splinter - 0 or 1 club and spade support RKCB 0 or 3 key cards Asking for kings Two (not including spade king)

7 ♠ by North

Greg Aldridge and Debbie McLeod were the only pair in the final (six teams) of the Fullarton Teams to bid and make 7♠ on this deal. Some only reached the small slam and some failed in the grand.

After avoiding the 4-4 heart fit, which incidentally probably should also yield 13 tricks, declarer has to carefully time the play to come to thirteen tricks. West's double of 5♣ ensured a club lead. Then the correct sequence of plays involves ruffing three clubs in dummy. The key is to manage the entries back to the north hand to take the ruffs. At least two declarers failed when they ruffed diamonds twice (possibly after taking two pitches on the top diamonds) this failed when east disposed of the ♥8 on the third club ruff. It is easy to see that a 4-1 heart break will be a problem if the singleton heart can be discarded by a player with fewer than four clubs. This suggests that the heart entry should be used early. On this hand ruffing a diamond the first time and using the heart the second time would work but that would fail if the clubs were 6-2 and there is a suggestion that the clubs might not break after west's double although Livingston may have chosen to bid 2♣ or 3♣ earlier if she had six. The best play then is to return the first time to the north hand with a heart and use the diamond ruffs the next two times.

Also note that it is safest and best to save the ♦AK until after trumps have been drawn. Playing them early leaves open the possibility that east will be able to over-ruff when north returns to hand with the third or fourth diamond.