How To Go Down


A K 6
K Q 8
A 5
A K Q J 3
Q 8 3 10 7 2
9 6 3 J 10 7 4
J 10 9 8 3 K 4 2
7 2 6 5 4
J 9 5 4
A 5 2
Q 4 2
10 4 2Contract: 6 no

Two people went down in 6 no here, and it would seem you have to go out of your way to do so. I mean, there are only two suits that offer a 12th winner, and each way works. So how do you go down when the only two ways to manufacture a 12th winner both work?
One way, of course is to lead toward the Q of diamonds, without cashing the A first, of course, to prevent going for numbers (and there being virtually no chance of dropping a stiff king). And the other way is to look for a third trick in the spade suit. Actually, there are a couple of ways of playing the spade suit. One would be to lose a trick first, and then on regaining the lead to cash the A K to see if you've got the split you wanted. That was indeed my first thought and would be reasonable enough if you had another means to a 12th winner without losing the lead, such as a simple finesse through A Q. You might try the spades first as outlined above, guarding against losing two tricks in the suit.

But on second thought, there's another play I liked a little better, which is to cash the A K and then come low to the J. This works on 3-3 split (as does the first method), on a doubleton Q in either hand, and also when RHO holds the Q guarded 3 or more times, which the first method doesn't address. As for going down, well, we'll know of a 5-1 split before any need to lead toward the J, so it's only a matter of going down one if the suit splits 4-2, with the Q in the wrong hand, which would lead to down one on the other method also. Further, if West holds the long spades on a 5-1 split, you can test for the K of diamonds with impunity. If that's offsides also, well, c'mon, you've done your best with the cards dealt. There's no shame in that. The shame is when you kick away easily made contracts.
Well, anyway, here's what these declarers did. One properly kept her A of diamonds and led toward the Q. That should have done it, huh? But when East ducked, she did also! She played the deuce! That's a tough play to understand. [years later: I don't know why the text ends here. I guess I abandoned the narrative for some reason -- supper's ready? -- and forgot about it. But I'm sure there were several others who simply didn't try either of the two methods of promoting a 12th trick. I trust my words "these declarers".]