Puzzle 7F46 (May 97) by Richard Pavlicek

Slam Dunk

6 by South

	K 10 K 10 9 8 A K 9 8 A K 6
Q 3 2 Q J 7 6 Q J 7 Q J 7		J A 5 4 3 2 10 6 5 5 4 3 2
Lead: Q	A 9 8 7 6 5 4 — 4 3 2 10 9 8

West Pass Pass

North 4 NT 6

East Pass All Pass

South 3 5

You have a chance when West leads the  Q. Do you see the light? (Clearly you don’t in the bidding, but maybe the play is your thing.) Make 6  against any defense.

Bonus question: What lead by West will defeat the slam?

Solution

Indeed, you have the elements for a double ruffout squeeze — an ending where each defender must keep two hearts to prevent you from establishing a heart trick, and neither is able to guard diamonds. Alas, it can’t be done under the entry conditions. (The defenders will lead a diamond when they win a trump trick, and West will cover any club lead by South.)

In the correct solution, dummy’s heart holding is irrelevant. The defense can be forced into an endplay which will cause West to lose his trump trick.

Ruff the first trick and lead the  10; jack, king. Ruff a second heart and lead the  9; queen, ace. Ruff a third heart and cash the  8; cross to dummy with a diamond (West plays the jack) and ruff the last heart to reach this ending:

	K 10 — K 9 8 —
Q 3 2 — Q 7 —		J 5 10 6 5
	A 9 8 — 4 3 —

Lead a diamond to the king. Assuming West keeps the  Q, simply cash the  K to remove East’s jack, then exit with a diamond to West who is endplayed to lead from his  Q.

But what if West unblocks in diamonds? Then you will cash the ace of trumps (not the king) and put East in with a diamond. This appears to do no good, but West’s trump queen is smothered on the return. So much for that “inevitable” trump loser — West’s queen gets dunked regardless.

Curiously, the contract can be defeated. You guessed it! West must lead a trump! This forces declarer to commit himself by winning the king or ace, after which West will know whether or not to unblock to foil the endplay. Remember this deal the next time you are on lead against a slam with queen-third in trumps.