This
deal is from the first division of the Lancashire
online league.
After
a brief auction, South arrived in two spades, his
overcall showing five spades and at least four of an
unspecified minor.
West
led the jack of clubs, ducked all round and
continued with the ten of clubs covered by the king
and ace. East tried to cash the queen of clubs
but South trumped that with the three and played the
ten of hearts, West followed with the eight showing
count and this ran to the queen.
South's
distribution was now known to be 5422. East
did not want to concede a ruff and discard at this
point as South's heart loser would disappear, so he
played a heart to West's ace. West played
another heart won in dummy as South discarded a
diamond. Then South led a diamond from dummy
won by East's ace. East now played a club,
South ruffed with the five, West overruffed with the
six and dummy won the trick with the nine.
After South cashed the king of spades East
eventually made the spade queen for one off.
This
looks like good defence. However, in the end
position below declarer could have made the
contract.
If
he had played a diamond to the king and then a spade
to the king followed by the jack of hearts, East's
trump trick would have disappeared.
So
could the contract have been beaten?
When
West was in with the ace of hearts a trump
return would have worked as West eventually
gets a trump promotion for his eight of spades
when East leads a club after winning the ace
of diamonds.
Alternatively
East could have afforded to give a ruff and
discard after winning the queen of hearts as
the defence's trumps are just good enough to
generate two tricks to compensate for the
heart trick lost.
The full deal was
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