[xx1943]

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All you know from declarers hand is 5♠s, opening strength and 1 Ace. Normally you should think long before leading out an Ace against a small slam, but with trump K, you have a good chance that declarer has the Ace of ♠.

So you lead hopefully your ♣A and get dummy ♣9 partner ♣4 and declarer ♣2.
You and your partner agreed to play standard signals.

How do you plan the defense? Which suit do you lead to trick2 and why?
Another question: If declarer leads ♠10, do you cover? What if he leads ♠J?

[Codo]

If they play 5 card majors, partner holds at most two spades, so how can we win a spade trick?
1. he holds Jx, I need to duck the ten from declarer.
2. he holds T9, I need to cover the jack.

This part is easy.

Declarer holds the Ace of diamonds, so if he holds the king of hearts too, he will have enough tricks, no matter what I do. If he does not hold the king of hearts and needs the finesse, he will still play and lose it.So my only possible continuation is a club.

[billw55]

North certainly deserves to go down bidding like this. Keycard with four fast losers? What on earth was wrong with 2♥?

Anyway, partner has plenty of room for a round suit king, and as Codo says the club must cash now while the heart can wait. True there aren't many holdings where partner will play the ♣4 while also holding the king (K43, KJ4, KJ43, others?) but I see nothing to lose and much to gain by the club continuation.

[xx1943]

Correct answers from Codo and billw55.

This was the full hand.

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This hand as an example for beginners to realize, that thinking ahead is much more important than looking at partner's signals.


Cheers

Al

[xx1943]

Correct answers from Codo and billw55.

This was the full hand.

---

This hand as an example for beginners to realize, that thinking ahead is much more important than looking at partner's signals.


Cheers

Al

[Antrax]

I think you should reword it so declarer plays the J on the first trick (if playing UDCA) or partner plays the 5 (or give him K4 doubleton). As it is, the lesson is "don't trust partner's signals".