The auction and the final contract in today’s deal were routine, but the play was a step above.
The opening spade lead went to East’s ace and East returned a spade to South’s king. There were 12 easy tricks if the missing clubs split 3-2, so declarer gave some thought to what might be done should one of the opponents have four clubs to the jack. Many players would cash the ace and queen of clubs, thinking that they could only pick up a poor club split if West had the length. This declarer took his time before playing any clubs.
South started by cashing the queen of spades, noting that West started with five spades. The ace, king, and queen of diamonds revealed that West also started with five diamonds. South led a heart to dummy’s ace and continued with the king of hearts. When West followed to two hearts, his original club holding was, at most, a singleton. South cashed dummy’s king of clubs and continued with the 10, intending to run it if East played low. East, however, covered with the jack, so declarer crossed back to dummy with the queen of hearts and finessed East for the nine of clubs. Nicely played! South had done well to cash his high diamonds before the high hearts, but he knew that he might need a late entry to dummy.
Published - June 27, 2024 09:01 am IST
