#7 Both Vulnerable
West North East South
Pass 1♣ 1♦ 1♠
3♦ 3♠ Pass 4♠
AP
West leads the ♦A
What is East’s plan?
North (Dummy)
♠ Q 9 4 2
♥ K 5
♦ J 9
♣ A K 10 9 2
West East (You)
♠ ♠ 6 5 3
♥ ♥ A Q 10
♦ A ♦ K Q 8 7 2
♣ ♣ 6 5
South (Declarer)
♠
♥
♦
♣
As East, when partner leads a winning card in a suit you have bid, and a suit in which you have strength, check dummy to determine whether you want a continuation or prefer a shift. If you want a shift, play your lowest card (playing Standard Signals). Good partners usually work out to shift to dummy’s short suit.
Using the Rule of 14, East knows the ♦A is the last entry to West’s hand. With the strong threatening clubs in dummy, it’s now or never to collect up the heart tricks for East/West. Since East wants a heart shift, play the D2 at trick one. If West shifts to a heart, then East/West takes two hearts and two diamonds for down 1!
Rule of 14: When the opponents are in a game contract, subtract your high card points from 14 and that tells you the approximate number of HCP in your partner’s hand.
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