Magical spot cards
The Hindu
West’s pre-emptive bid put North under pressure. North felt that two aces and four-card heart support entitled him to bid four hearts, but East disagreed and announced his opinion loudly with a double
West’s pre-emptive bid put North under pressure. North felt that two aces and four-card heart support entitled him to bid four hearts, but East disagreed and announced his opinion loudly with a double. South won the opening spade lead with his ace and led a club to dummy’s jack at trick two. East won with the queen and led the 10 of clubs to dummy’s ace. South led a diamond to his jack, relieved to win the trick. He cashed the king of diamonds and needed an entry to dummy. The only possibility was a club ruff, so he cashed the king of clubs and ruffed his last club in dummy, leaving this position:
South cashed the ace of diamonds to discard his spade and led the four of hearts from dummy. East could take no more than two heart tricks no matter what he did. The most interesting variation was for East to play the three. South must win with his eight and lead the 10 of heart to East’s jack. Should East exit with his last diamond, South must ruff with the five and overruff in dummy with the seven. The lead of a spade from dummy will let the king of hearts score the tenth trick. Well done!