Hints and tips:
...One method might be to lay down A♦ in case West holds a singleton K♦ but, here, this fails, as West’s ♦J74 becomes a third-round winner....
...Here, declarer led a low trump from dummy and took his A♠, before next playing to K♠....
...East took A♠, returned 2♠, and South won deceptively with K♠ in hand....
...To succeed wherever Q♠ and K♦ lie, West must be stripped of a safe way of getting off lead once he wins the first finesse....
...BiddingDealer: NorthE/W Game The singleton A♦ may have put some off from raising no-trumps but, once bid, South is maximum, and must try for game....
...Fiction Best Actress Annette Bening, Nyad Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall Carey Mulligan, Maestro Emma Stone, Poor Things Best Supporting Actor Sterling K...
...Because diamonds break poorly, and K♣ sits over Q♣, East had a diamond, a spade and a club to lose, plus four further losers to ruff in dummy....
...K♠ could well be a trick and his singleton club could provide one to three ruffs in dummy. So, South decided to jump to 4C. Would his partner understand the meaning of such a bid?...
...Playing natural systems, 1S is best. 4NT was Roman Key-Card Blackwood; North’s 5H response showed A♦ and K♥; his 6C response indicated K♣....
...BiddingDealer: SouthLove All West correctly led K♥....
...With West’s own three diamonds, this marks East with a singleton, and allows West to make a very rare play indeed: he leads dummy’s long suit. West’s trump control of K♠ makes this the correct play....
...Coach K’s (and Sydney’s) wisdom is yours for £14.99/$18.99....
...BiddingDealer: SouthGame All West led 10♦, identified by all as a singleton, and declarer won in hand and led a trump....
...Declarer took the lead to be a singleton, playing low from dummy and beating East’s 9♣ with A♣. He laid down K♠, noting East’s 10♠....
...Against 4H, which several players made, South might start with his singleton diamond, but he does have two chances....
...Playing for 5♥ to be a singleton is foolhardy since, if this is the layout, declarer would hold ♥K92 and two heart tricks might belong to East naturally....
...The lead is probably from KJ10xx(x), but declarer worried that East might hold a singleton or doubleton K♠, so she played low from dummy at trick 1....
...Knowing that West holds six hearts, and that 6♦ lead is surely a singleton, allows declarer to keep a count on West’s hand. Declarer covered the lead with dummy’s J♦, East contributed K♦, and South A♦....
...South drew the last trump and took the club finesse twice, claiming 11 tricks when K♣ did not fall on the third round. How did South know that West held a singleton K♦?...
...With West likely to hold both K♠ and K♦, the contract seemed safe. East dropped Q♣, and West switched to 10♥. Declarer decided that East’s Q♣ showed J♣, and 10♥ was surely a singleton....
...With a singleton in dummy — even in a small slam — it is often wrong to rise with an ace. South smirked to himself....
...If West has a singleton and trumps K♥, the game is lost — unless declarer is alert to that possibility....
...So, declarer played to A♥, hoping to drop East’s now singleton K♥. If West had — like most — overcalled 1S, would it have changed South’s thinking? At the table, it did....
...If East holds K♣, declarer seems doomed, but a superior line caters for a singleton or doubleton K♣ in the East hand, and that is a bonus well worth taking. Declarer draws trumps and lays down A♣....
...If West had held ♣AK, she probably would have led a top card before her singleton, but if West holds ♣AQ, or K♣ and A♥, then it is essential that the suit is led immediately from East’s side of the table...
International Edition