It is often possible to get a
complete picture of the opponents' distribution, but with other hands
you must simply go with the odds. Take a look at this hand.
VUL: E-W
SCORING: IMPs
Hand #16
Dlr
N
Vul
E-W
AJ105
Q1093
J8
KJ2
76
7542
Q9432
98
Q9843
86
K10
7654
K2
AKJ
A765
AQ103
West
North
East
South
Pass
Pass
2NT
Pass
4NT
Pass
6NT
All
Pass
BIDDING: North passed a hand many people would open. After
hearing his partner's 2NT bid showing 20-22 high card points, North
invited slam. South knew his opponents at the other table were
aggressive bidders so he accepted.
PLAY: West led a diamond against the slam. South could
count 11 tricks: 2 spades, 4 hearts, 1 diamond, and 4 clubs. With
any other lead he could merely concede a spade for an easy 12
tricks. Now he must discover who has the spade queen. To
gain as much information as possible and perhaps establish a squeeze
position, North ducked the first diamond and won the second. It
appeared that West had led from a five card suit headed by the
queen. Next declarer played four rounds of hearts and
learned West started with four. He needed to keep communications
between the two hands so he could only play one round of clubs.
With the information available, the odds favored East to hold the queen
of spades so declarer led the jack and let it ride. When the jack won,
South unblocked the king of spades and returned to dummy with a
club. Note the importance of keeping two clubs in dummy. If
East covered the jack of spades with the queen, declarer would have to
use a club to get back to dummy and then another to return to his
hand.
This play could have lost to the queen of spades but the odds favored
it being in the East hand. Also note since West held the long
diamonds, there was no squeeze.
