[dkharty]

Scoring: IMP

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This is a hand from an old Fred Karpin book from the early 60's. It's a pretty basic hand but illustrative of an important theme.

You are declarer in a 4♥ contract. West leads the spade Queen. How would you play the hand?

PLEASE remember, this is a B/I play problem. If you are advanced+, please wait a while before posting the solution, or at least keep your response hidden.

[jdonn]

I won't spoil the hand, but I want to mention I have a bunch of old bridge books and I consider Fred Karpin one of the most underrated excellent bridge authors of all time. I have found anything he wrote to be worth reading.

[the hog]

Agree with Josh regarding Karpin. This is an easy, but nice hand.
Solution hidden below.

Spoiler

You need to set up a C trick for a D pitch, so win in hand and play AQ of Cs. The trap is not to win the first S in dummy, thus killing an entry.

[dkharty]

jdonn, on Mar 30 2010, 07:12 PM, said:

I won't spoil the hand, but I want to mention I have a bunch of old bridge books and I consider Fred Karpin one of the most underrated excellent bridge authors of all time. I have found anything he wrote to be worth reading.

Agree completely. He has a great dry sense of humor and a knack for clear explanation...one of my all time favorite used-bookstore finds.

[vuroth]

Win in hand, play the Ace then Queen of clubs. I sure hope clubs are 5/3 or better though (EDIT: tbh, way better to be true than the 50% finesse.....).