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Wrong: for sure.

Two defenders took the same route on the same deal, a route they knew could not benefit their side. There was another way which might not be so wrong as unlikely as it might seem.

On this deal, both South declarers had played their 4 contract as well as they could but they should not have prevailed. Could you have stopped them? You are East.

 

Dutifully, your partner leads 6 and you cover Q with your K and lose to the A. (As an aside, were South to hold singleton ace, you could regret covering. That was not the situation or the problem here.)

Declarer plays two high hearts (they hold K: you discard a diamond) and then plays a diamond to J and ruffs a diamond with J, with West discarding a spade.

Next comes a third round of hearts (your partner following with 10) and 3 from dummy. You play low as Q in the South hand wins the trick.

Next, declarer exits a low club with your Q winning the trick. You play K and that also wins the trick. What now?

Our opponents had not exactly raced into 4. North seemed to have been satisfied with a raise to 3 and only after you competed in spades did South take the push to game.

What do you know for sure about the two hidden hands? You know that South had started with 5 hearts and that although they had shown up with Q, they had no more than one more card in that suit at best. Your partner had volunteered a 2 bid. Your double had shown diamond strength and length and had not really asked them to bid. West had no more than 5 spades and the more spades West held, the more clubs were in the South hand.

That just had to be. South had shown up with 5 hearts and 2 diamonds. If they held just 1 spade, they had to hold 5 clubs. Even with 2 spades, they held 4 clubs. Had South 5 clubs, they were more likely to have bid 3 than passed 2x.

Who held A? It just might have been South but to make any sense of West’s entrance into the auction, the only serious honour card they could hold was A. There also seemed little chance for the defence if South held that card.

So, to the key play at trick 10. Remember, these were the cards East still held and could see:

Not wanting to give South 2 spade tricks, East exited their last diamond and South’s second spade disappeared as they discarded the 6 from dummy at the same time, the third trick for the defence. East had no choice then but to lead A which was ruffed setting up K as a winner at trick 13. Contract made.

Well played but no play.

If there was a spade trick to take, East had to take it there and then. After that, a third round of spades would have given South a discard but there was an inevitable club loser to come. It was important East realised that South held at least 4 clubs.

Cashing A in that situation might feel unpleasant but the ruff and discard proved fatal.

and at the other table

Our second East was in the same situation though the play had gone slightly differently. Also, West had never bid:

West                    North             East                South

                                                      1                   1
Pass                      2                   x                     3
Pass                      4                   All Pass

Same diamond lead, same cover and same two rounds of trumps followed by that same diamond ruff and a third round of trumps finishing in dummy. Without touching spades, South led a low club from dummy and East had cashed the second club trick.

Here, West had an awkward discard on the third round of diamonds as they knew nothing of how the black suits were distributed. Had they thrown a spade, then even the ruff and discard would not have helped South. However, West had thrown a club.

 

At the critical moment (here with 5 cards to play) , East also played their diamond and now as declarer ruffed in hand, they discarded dummy’s club. 9 drew A and South still held Q9, a certain entry to the established J.

The contract would still have failed had East kept one more diamond and one less spade. However, again, when in with their two club tricks, the contract had to fail as long as East played A and a second spade and not the disastrous ruff and discard.

Both declarers had done well. Both East players could/should have done better.

Richard Solomon

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