Puzzle 7F21 (1994) by Richard Pavlicek

The Declarer Reversal


North’s jump to 4 H is a Texas transfer to 4 S, a relatively easy contract. West’s moronic sacrifice in 5 H clearly should have been doubled — but then I would have no puzzle — so assume North takes the push to 5 S.

5 S by South

S A 9 7 5 3 2
H 2
D 6 5 4 3
C A 10
S 10 8 6 4
H 5 4 3
D Q J 9 8 7
C 2		[W - E]S Q
H K J 9 8 7 6
D K
C Q J 9 8 7
S K J
H A Q 10
D A 10 2
C K 6 5 4 3

West

Pass
5 H		North

4 H
5 S		East

Dbl
All Pass		South
1 NT
4 S

West leads the H 3 (two, king, ace) and your task is to win 11 tricks. Warning: It’s tricky!

With 10 routine tricks, the most obvious hope for 11 is to develop some kind of endplay against East based on the heart layout. If you pursue this angle, you will be frustrated by communication pitfalls and the complications of West’s trump holding. Alas, it can’t be done.

Can you find the way?

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Solution

The solution involves a spectacular jettison play followed by a dummy reversal. (Or maybe this should be called a declarer reversal since the hand is already being played from the short side because of the transfer bid.)

The key play is to discard the C A on the H Q. Then ruff a heart and return to your hand with the C K. (Optionally, you could ruff the heart at trick two, return to the C K, and then jettison the C A.) Next ruff a club, return to your hand with a trump, and ruff another club. (West cannot gain by ruffing in front of dummy, so assume he discards each time). This leaves the ending shown in the diagram with North to lead:

S A 9
H —
D 6 5 4 3
C —
S 10 8 6
H —
D Q J 9
C —		[W - E]S —
H J 9 8
D K
C Q 9
S J
H —
D A 10 2
C 4 3

Duck a diamond to East. The forced club or heart return allows you to make all of your trumps separately. The defense is helpless to prevent this.

In all, declarer wins two top hearts, one top diamond, one top club, two high trumps in hand and five ruffs in dummy.

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Copyright © 1994 Richard Pavlicek. All rights reserved.