Hard Luck Louie was disappointed with the dummy. They had 33 highcard points between them, and each player had a five-card suit, but the slam was a poor one. Louie decided that playing on clubs offered a better chance than diamonds. He won the opening heart lead with dummy’s ace, cashed the ace of clubs, and led a low club toward his hand. Louie consulted his stars and eventually played the 10 of clubs from his hand. Louie had high hopes when this fetched the king from West, but when the jack of clubs didn’t fall under the queen later, Louie had to concede down one. “Darn it,” said Louie. “I guess the clubs right and I still can’t make it.”
Lucky Larry also declared six no trump and also got a heart lead. He also decided to play on clubs for his contract, but he won the heart lead in his hand with the king and led the queen of clubs! That did the trick. It didn’t matter whether West covered with the king or not. The clubs now came in for four winners and Larry had his slam. Nice play!
We can all learn the correct way to play this club suit, and many other card combinations, from an excellent new book, Playing Suit Combinations, by Jeff Rubens and Fred Gittelman.