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...Strangely, declarer’s initial play of J♦, then K♦, may have sown seeds of doubt in East’s mind....
...J Paul Horne Alexandria, VA, US...
...He wins, draws trumps, and ruffs J♥ in dummy. He leads 2♣ and, when East plays small, he puts in J♣ and this holds....
...J Paul HorneAlexandria, VA, US...
...When this loses, East can cash K♠ and lead Q♦, but declarer has time to win A♦, cash J♣, cross to dummy with J♥, and then play A♣ on which he can discard a diamond loser....
...Either way, South’s J♣ scores his 12th trick....
...Patrick J Allen River Forest, IL, US...
...East overtakes the lead with A♠ and returns J♠. When this holds the trick, he switches to 10♣. Declarer rises with A♣ and reflects on the play to date....
...Paul Mendelson’s new book, ‘The Joy of Bridge’, is out now...
...Morgan Entrekin, chief executive of Grove Atlantic, the publisher behind last year’s Booker prize-winner, Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song, agrees. “The boom in [romantasy] has been amazing,” he says....
...If he had four spades to the ace-jack, he would have put in J♠ at trick one, so declarer is marked with four spades....
...South put in J♠ and, when West won with A♠, declarer had successfully negotiated all the obstacles. Paul Mendelson’s new book, ‘The Joy of Bridge’, is out now...
...When West passes, North’s forced 2D response promises nothing, but South must hope that North holds something to make game a good shot: a couple of low spades, plus K♥ or J♣ make it pretty much lay-down....
...West led J♣; South faces a loser in each of other suits and, crucially, the fourth round of clubs too. Can you foresee what might go wrong?...
...Let’s say that East rises with 10♦, J♦ is played and West wins with K♦. If he leads another diamond, it runs to declarer’s ♦A9; if he opts instead for a spade, this runs to South ♠KJ....
...He led J♦ and, when East followed low, he ran it, and it held the trick. What made declarer finesse in diamonds?...
...Lead J♣ from hand, West covers — if he does not, declarer runs the jack — and declarer wins with dummy’s K♣....
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