Up or Down Mr. Brown?

By Eddie Kantar

Courtesy of KantarBridge.com

Neither vulnerable, IMPs

Opening lead: ♥K

Say you win the ♥A and duck a club to East’s jack. East cashes the HJx and exits with the ♣K you win the ace, West playing the ten.   Wondering about spades?    Okay, the time has come: you play the ♠K and East plays the jack.  When you continue with a second spade, West plays low, of course.  Which spade do you play from dummy, and worse, why?

Solution

This one’s a gimme.    You can’t make the hand if the ♠J is a singleton as you will have a natural spade loser to go along with a heart and two club losers. The only hope to make your contract is that East has QJ doubleton so rise with the ace. Play to make!