Mark Horton

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 North East South
Horton Helman
Pass 2
Pass 4 All Pass

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.

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