When facing a weak dummy, entries are very important. Here is an
example of declarer creating one on the opening lead.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
Hand #32
Dlr
W
Vul
E/W
J983
Q10843
J3
Q8
54
J2
A10642
9754
K2
A97
KQ95
K1063
AQ1076
K65
87
AJ2
West
North
East
South
Pass
Pass
1NT
2
Pass
Pass
Pass
BIDDING: South would have
liked a stronger and longer suit but he entered the auction after
East's 1NT opening and found a pretty good dummy.
PLAY: With no attractive
opening lead, West finally chose the jack of hearts. Declarer saw
a chance to get to dummy by playing the queen. East won the ace
and hoping the lead was a singleton, returned the suit. Declarer
let this ride around to dummy and was relieved when West
followed. After picking up the trump suit, declarer ran the heart
suit discarding his two diamonds. Next, he led a club to his jack
and wrapped up twelve tricks. Perhaps East should have switched
to diamonds at trick two but it was the unlucky heart lead that caused
the problem. The lead of any other suit would hold declarer to
ten tricks.
Note that if declarer ducks the opening lead, East will also play
low. Now the best declarer can do is play ace and another spade
to prevent a heart ruff. This leaves declarer with only nine
tricks.
