Zia's Question and Solution for Week 5

'Who was it that said: "The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer"?

Defenders can on occasion take the same approach.' - ZIA

North deals at game all. Zia, West, picks up this hand:

West (Zia)

K92  63 AK764 842

The bidding is as follows:

West	North	East	South
	1	Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	3
Pass	4	Pass	Pass
Pass

Zia's opponents, as usual, bid swiftly to game, and the final contract is 4.

Zia makes an obvious lead of K and then sees that dummy's hand is as shown:

	North
	QJ3 QJ104 2 AK975
West (Zia)
K92  63 AK764 842

Trick 1: K West - 2 North - 3 East - 9 South

Zia's agreement is that when he leads a high honour against a suit contract and dummy has a singleton, partner will give a suit preference signal. East's play of a small diamond suggests that he was not dealt the A.

What card would Zia play next?

Zia's Solution

The full deal is as shown:

	North
	QJ3 QJ104 2 AK975
West (Zia)		East
K92  63 AK764 842		86 A2 J10853 QJ103
	South
	A10754  K9875 Q9 6

Zia's answer is 9 or 2.

Prospects for the defence don't seem good! It would be nice if East had the doubleton A - EW could take A K and a ruff, since South is marked with five spades on the bidding. Sadly, partner's play of 3 to the first trick appears to deny A.

However, A might be enough - if Zia can persuade declarer to lose a spade ruff anyway! Look at the position from South's point of view if Zia shifts to 9. South would put up dummy's Q, which would hold the trick. Next, South would lead a heart (say Q) from dummy. East would win with A. East would then return a spade. South would now be faced with a tricky guess. If Zia's 9 was actually a singleton, ducking the second round of spades would ensure the contract, while playing A would lose it. There are no guarantees, but South may well play 'safe' by ducking the second spade.

Not so safe! Zia would win with the K. Zia would then lead a spade for partner to ruff. One down!

While 2 is also an acceptable answer, Zia prefers the psychology and deception of playing the 9. If declarer sees a high spade from West, he is less likely to regard it as being from an honour holding and more likely from shortage. But if he sees 2, the possibility may cross his mind that Zia is leading from Kxx in the hope that East has A. Since that's not what Zia wants him to think at all, Zia prefers the more deceptive card.

'Anyway, I love to play nines whenever I can!'

Final Result: NS win 9 tricks for -100

9 and 2 are both considered correct for the contest.

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