Bridge Problem: The King’s Choice
A doubled game to win
Dealer East. All vulnerable.
You receive the lead of the 2 of diamonds, to East’s king and your ace. Now it’s your turn to play!
The solution by Philippe Cronier
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Can lead the Q of hearts on second trip to achieve same result.
as my partner has 4 hearts doubled, I must get the hand with ace of Diamond and make 1 Hand
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J-S-Kee: Qh at trick 2 will not work. West will win the Ace and play Ace and Jack of clubs, locking you on the dummy with no entry back to your hand to take the heart finesse against the Jack.
But I am not certain the Helgemo’s line is best. I think a straight finesse of the Jh at trick 2 is better. If you run the 9h at trick 2, you will make approximately 2/3 of the time (you’ll fail when East’s stiff is the Jack instead of one of the two outstanding spot cards). Helgemo’s line will lose if East has the Qs, which is roughly 50-50, I would say (West has 3 spades other than the Ace; East also has three spades). West can see he’ll need his two black aces and two trump tricks to defeat the game. He also knows you’ll likely hook him for three hearts given East’s preempt. So if you lead toward the Ks, he can see his only hope is that you have 2-3 spades and that his partner has the Qs. So West will duck the spade, and you’ll win the K. But now West cannot be prevented from getting over the East’s hand with the Qs for a diamond ruff.