Hi all
Trentemöller Saturday night at the Fillmore was awesome. Most of the tracks of Into The Great White Yonder translated very well to the live stage.
Here’s a challenge for you. Eternal glory for grabs if you manage to provide a watertight line to 6
. The hand records show that 12 tricks are cold, where 6NT is somewhat easier than 6 (deal 8, rotated for convenience). I was sitting West and led a trump. Good luck.
South Dealer
– Vul
North
–
Q642
KT5
AKQJT5
West
63
KJT8
7642
963
East
AJ954
953
3
8742
South
KQT872
A7
AQJ98
–
2 hearts, 7 diamonds, 3 clubs = 12 tricks. Win diamond in hand, ruff spade. Heart to ace, ruff spade. Ruff a club (!!). Draw trump. You now hold
KQT8, 
7, and 8 tricks in hand. Dummy holds 
Qx and 
AKQ. West holds 
KJT 
96. East is irrelevant (probably holds spades).
Now lead the
7. Assuming West goes up with the K, he must return a heart (to Q, then win 
AKQ), or club (to clubs). If he does not go up, you go up with the Q and win the clubs, yielding the final trick.
I guess this is sort of a dentist coup (extracting the spades from W’s hand so he must exit to give you the entry on board you need)? Not sure this is the line that I’d take at the table, but it seems to be a pretty high percentage line if you know West only has 2 spades for any reason (just requires
K onside, so 50-50 at least).
It seems we have a winner here!
Congratulations to Joe!
At the table I would play (as my opponent did) for the
to split. You’re cold for 12 if they do. All other plans don’t seem to get to 67.8%.