The Rabbi’s New Rule

By now everyone is aware of the Rabbi’s Rule – ‘the king of clubs is always singleton offside’ but in the first round of KO matches in the Senior Teams the Rabbi showed that even a doubleton queen is far from safe:

Dealer: East Vul: East/West		North
		♠	A K 10 7 4
		♥	A 4
		♦	9 3
		♣	A 10 7 3
West				East
♠	8 2			♠	J 9 3
♥	Q 9			♥	8 7 5
♦	K 10 8 7 2			♦	A Q 6 5
♣	K Q J 4			♣	9 8 6
		South
		♠	Q 6 5
		♥	K J 10 6 3 2
		♦	J 4
		♣	5 2

West led the king of clubs and the Rabbi won with dummy’s ace, cashed the ace of hearts, noting West’s nine and played a heart to his king. When the queen appeared declarer could draw the last trump, and then cash five rounds of spades, +480.

In the replay, declarer, in an identical situation, took the heart finesse and the defenders were not slow to cash a club and two diamonds for +50 and a useful 11 IMPs.