The Entryless Dummy

12th August 2005

The following hand is an example of the entryless dummy.

Dealer South Love All	Q 3 J 4 3 9 7 6 3 A Q 10 9 2
A 9 6 5 10 7 2 J 8 5 2 K 3		K 8 7 2 Q 9 8 5 Q J 8 5 4
	J 10 4 A K 6 3 A K 10 4 7 6

The bidding was:

South	West	North	East
1	Pass	3	Pass
3NT	All Pass

The lead was 5 to the K and another spade to the A. South won the third round of spades with the J.

South now led 7.

Because the dummy has no entries other than the Club, it is easy to see that if East held Kxx then holding up the king would restrict declarer to two club tricks.

However West holds Kx. West can achieve the same thing by playing the king immediately. This will promote the J in his partner's hand thus allowing East to kill the club suit.

Playing low doesn't work as declarer finesses the 10. If East takes it with the J then declarer takes four club tricks. Holding up the J will restrict it to three tricks. But if West had played the K on the first round of clubs then the defence can keep it to just two tricks.

John Milne