Who has the last trump?
| Dealer: N
Vul: None Lead: J♥ |
North | ||||
| ♠ | x | ||||
| ♥ | AQxxx | ||||
| ♦ | ATx | ||||
| ♣ | KQxx | ||||
| West | ![]() |
East | |||
| ♠ | ?xxx(?) | ♠ | ?xxx(?) | ||
| ♥ | KJTxx | ♥ | xx | ||
| ♦ | (?)xx | ♦ | (?)Jx | ||
| ♣ | J | ♣ | T987 | ||
| South | |||||
| ♠ | AQx | ||||
| ♥ | x | ||||
| ♦ | K8xxx | ||||
| ♣ | Axxx | ||||
| West | Dad | East | Me |
| 1♥ | P | 2♦ | |
| P | 3♣ | P | 3♠ |
| P | 4♦ | P | 5♣ |
| P | 6♦ | All P |
My father and I each pushed a bit, the result being a thin slam.
It seemed to me that if both minors broke 3-2, then the slam was cold on two spade ruffs, and there was no need to take either major suit finesse.
So, I won the Ace of hearts, played Ace and ruff a spade, crossed to the Ace of clubs (noting the Jack), and ruffed my last spade. The Ace of diamonds was unblocked, and a heart ruffed back to hand. Finally the King of diamonds, opponents following and a heart discarded from dummy (NOT a club).
At this point I played a club towards dummy, planning to claim with one trump loser if they broke. However, LHO thought for a bit, then discarded a heart. When I lead a heart from dummy, RHO had to think (yes RHO showed out, so the heart finesse would have worked), then they discarded a spade (as a club discard would have been fatal). At this point, I was cold, even though I didn’t know who had the last trump. So I lead a club towards dummy. West could not ruff, or my club loser would go away, AND could not discard a heart, otherwise dummy’s Queen would provide a winner for a club discard.
So after their Spade discard, LHO was known to hold the heart King and either the high trump, or a spade. RHO was known to hold a good club, and either the master trump or a spade. When I lead a heart from dummy, I was either scoring my last trump en-passant, or via the compression squeeze affected on LHO the previous trick. Either way, +920 was worth a lot of matchpoints.


