| West | North | East | South |
| 1♥ | |||
| Pass | 1♠ | Pass | 1NT |
| Pass | 3♥ | Pass | 4♥ |
| AllPass |
South was one of those players who invariably accepted an invitation to bid game. You might not have bid so optimistically, but if you were in South’s shoes, how would you manage a plus score after this sequence of events: West leads the ♣K and you see East overtake with the ace to play the ♣3. West wins with the ♣9, cashes the ♣Q, East discarding a low diamond, then exits with the ♣10, East again discarding a diamond.,
Solution
Declarer ruffed the ♣10, declarer paused to assess the situation. The first consideration was which defender to play for the queen of trumps. Declarer saw that if he chose West as the designated holder of that card, he would probably also need to make four tricks in spades. As that required a little bit too much luck, declarer decided to play East for the trump queen.
Declarer began by cashing the ♠K and ♠A, followed by a spade ruff. After cashing the *D*A and ruffing a diamond low, declarer ruffed a second spade in hand, reducing himself to the ♥A J plus a diamond. Now, after ruffing his remaining diamond with dummy’s king of trumps, declarer led a low trump and covered East’s 7 with the jack. When that held, declarer had 10 tricks: two spades, five trumps, a diamond and two diamond ruffs.
Note that if declarer had decided to play the ♦A and ruff a diamond before playing on spades, he would have had to lead dummy’s low trump and finesse against East’s queen next. Then declarer would have cashed the ♠K and ♠A and ruffed a spade, reducing himself to the ace-jack of hearts and a diamond – the same position as above. The full deal:
