Declarer Play - 6C Example

Here's a hand that came up today:

Dummy:
♠K6
♥JT43
♦K82
♣KJT4

Declarer:
♠A9632
♥KQ2
♦A
♣AQ52

In my dreams I make the brilliant bid of 6♣. (In reality my partner got to play in 3NT but let's ignore that...)

So I am playing in my dream contract of 6♣. The opening lead is the Q♦. What do I do?

Yes, the first thing I do (after thanking partner of course) is to count my losers. It's a trump contract so I count losers.

♠ 3 losers
♥ 1 loser
♦ 0 losers
♣ 0 losers -- I guess if there is a really bad break in ♣ I have a loser but this is my dream. I don't dream bad breaks in the trump suit. Those are my nightmares...

So. 4 losers. Not looking good. I guess the 1 loser I'm allowed to have has to be the A♥. Can't see getting rid of that one. So how do I get rid of 3 losers in ♠?

Think of all the different ways you can see.

Well I have the K♦. That should take care of 1 loser. I can maybe trump 2 ♠ in dummy...

Though if I have to trump 2 ♠ in dummy that means I can't take out all the trump. I have to keep 2 trump in dummy. Hmmmm...

How about the ♥? Once I lose to the A♥ I have an extra ♥ in dummy that will be good. I can throw away 1 of the ♠ losers on that! Then I only have to trump 1 ♠. I only need to keep 1 ♣ in dummy!

Should I take out trump right away?

Yes, since I only need 1 trump in dummy I can try to take out trump. If the trumps are breaking badly I may need to stop and think again but this is a dream. They won't break badly.

YES! I won my A♦ and played 2 rounds of trump. Both opponents followed. So I took out the last trump. Now I need to play a ♥ and lose to the A♥. I played the K♥ from my hand (high cards from the short side remember!) and my LHO (Left Hand Opponent) won the A♥ and returned the J♦. I won the K♦ and pitched 1 of my losing ♠ from my hand. Now I played a ♥ to my Q♥ and played another ♥ to the T♥. Now I am in dummy to play my winning J♥ and throw my 2nd ♠ loser. Now I can play my K♠, then A♠ and trump a ♠. Making 6!!!