The hand we are presenting was played in the match Scottish Bridge Union against England. The heroine is the Scottish Veronica Guy; her partner was Laura Middleton, the opponents were Pauline Cohen and Lizzie Godfrey. E-W vulnerable, Dealer West; the auction:
Pauline Cohen led ♠J, and this was what appeared to Veronica, the Declarer:
Counting the tricks. There are five tricks in spade, two hearts, one diamond and two clubs. One trick might be made by the ♦Q if the king were before it; another one might come from club finesse, or club ruff if trump break were fair (or both), but if we go to watch the key cards of this hand – as Veronica did – it cannot slip the matter of the diamond 10, 9, and 8.
She took the lead, cleared trumps giving up the club ruff, and started diamond by queen, lost to king. Got by ace the heart return, Veronica again finessed diamond, the knave this time, succeeding in it and arriving to this final:
Dummy (on lead)
♠—
♥K86
♦A8
♣K4
Declarer (Veronica Guy)
♠42
♥5
♦—
♣AJ82
Before to go on it must be said that the plan of Veronica was the right one; if the ♦K had been onside, she would have found in diamond both the tricks she needed, whereas after the ♣Q finesse she still had had to seek a trick. Now Veronica drew the ♦A, the knave felt and all finished; but let’s suppose that the knave didn’t fall; what to do?
In this case she would have followed by ♥K, hearth ruff, and last trump as squeezing card in a two-entries squeeze, or, also depending on who was holding diamond, deciding between squeeze or club finesse.
Dummy
♠—
♥8 (idle card)
♦8 (isolated menace)
♣K4
Declarer (Veronica Guy)
♠2 (squeezing card)
♥—
♦—
♣AJ8 (communicating menace with a supplementary dummy entry)
The complete hand:
2013 Lady Milne Trophy >>
2013 Lady Milne Trophy: Results >>
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Paolo Enrico Garrisi