East
arrived in three notrump following an Acol auction.
South led a spade to North's king and the spade return was
won by East who then cashed the ace and jack of
diamonds. He judged that the diamonds were not
breaking so he couldn't afford to overtake the
diamond. There were now plenty of tricks in dummy, but
declarer couldn't get to them and the defenders were aware
of the position as well. Declarer exited with a club,
won by South who played the heart queen. Declarer won
and played another club which South let run to North's
ace. North now had to play a club to South, who could
exit with the jack of hearts, then declarer would eventually
have to lose a trick to North heart nine. However,
North fell from grace by playing a heart, East did well to
drop the jack of hearts and then exited with a club to South
who had to concede the remainder to dummy. East could
have made the contract legitimately by cashing two top
hearts before exiting with a club. The best the
defence could then do would be to cash three clubs ending in
North who would play a low heart with East finessing the
eight for his contract.
