The Case of the Missing King

Question

Just looking at the spade suit and assuming you will get opportunities to lead from either North or South, is it possible for the North/South pair to make three spade tricks despite missing the king?

Try it in the context of the whole hand First, read the context notes below

This works on a very similar principle to the first puzzle. If the king of spades is in East’s hand, you can’t avoid losing one trick. But if the king is in West’s hand and you lead a small card from the South hand, twice, you will win tricks with all three of North’s cards.

If West plays the king either time, you win with the ace and your other cards become winners. If West plays a small card, you try the jack, which will win whenever West holds the king. Then you can do the same again with the queen. Because it’s a 50/50 chance that West has the missing king, this is definitely worth a try.

Your opponents will start by taking the first four tricks in hearts (you should discard dummy’s fourth diamond and your fourth club on the last heart trick). You can play the remaining cards in any order you like but we want to focus on the spades, where you are missing the king, but can still make three tricks if you approach the suit in the best way. You can use your clubs and diamonds to cross from one hand to the other, winning the trick in the hand you want to lead from next.

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