Vienna No More

Hi all

Last night advanced course at Dombo. I prepared some games at home and with exactly four students the table was complete. Here’s one of the prepared games where I found out my first analysis wasn’t completely correct.

South Dealer
NS Vul
North
J93
K2
J63
AKJT6
West
QT82
QJ94
95
982
East
654
853
AKQT72
4
South
AK7
AT76
84
Q753

The bidding isn’t really interesting, South opens a natural 1, North answers inverted, East interferes with some number in and eventually North-South will end up playing 5.

Now my original plan was to ruff the third round of high, cash both Ace and King of (the Vienna coup) and then drop all trumps on the table. West is squeezed in the Majors. This works because East has both honors, but if one of them is transferred to West, then this line is doomed to fail. West can unguard his without problems.

A trump squeeze is the true solution. Same as before, you ruff the third round of high, West discarding a (a is immediately fatal). And now you play four rounds of trumps, leading to this position:

South Dealer
NS Vul
North
J93
K2
6
West
QT8
QJ94
East
of
no
importance
!
South
AK
AT76

West still has to find a discard. If a is discarded, you cash both in hand, enter dummy via a ruff and the Jack is your eleventh trick. A goes away? You can ruff out the remaining with the Ace as an entry. This line of play works too if both honors are divided and therefore the better play.

Edit 06-12-2006:
If East switches to a after just one high then you only have the Vienna coup to revert to. The opponents are already halfway in destroying your communication for the trump squeeze, but I guess your opponents are called Belladonna or Forquet if they do.