Opening Lead: H7
The South hand in the above diagram is very difficult to evaluate. Is it worth sixteen points or maybe just fourteen points? I guess it depends on who has the ace and king of clubs. Mort Klein of Beachwood held the South cards and decided that the hand was worth one push towards game and so bid three spades over East's takeout double. Lew Stone of Beachwood sat North. He felt that his hand was at the upper end of the two spade raise and went on to game.
West led the seven of hearts. Klein was looking at potentially four losers right off the top, the ace and king of clubs as well as the ace and king of trump. He was going to have to create some magic to bring this contract home.
The first trick was won in dummy with the queen of hearts. The two of diamonds was led to the ten, which held the trick. Klein cashed the king of diamonds and the ace of hearts. He played the king of hearts and ruffed low in dummy. The ace of diamonds provided a resting spot for the jack of clubs. The jack of diamonds was covered by the queen. Declarer trumped with the seven. West over trumped with the ace of spades and led a club but it was too late. Klein ruffed the second club lead and led a spade to the jack. East won the trick with the king but that was all that the defense could manage.
It doesn't matter if this hand is played at a rubber bridge game or a duplicate bridge game, declarer still has to figure out which defender holds the queen of diamonds. If successful, he will establish a diamond trick so that a losing club can be discarded from his hand before trump is played.
While it may not seem apparent, there is a lot of information to work with. First, declarer knows that West does not hold the ace and king of clubs. If he had both of those cards he would have led one to see the dummy before continuing with the defense. If West has a club honor, it would probably be the ace, because he might have led low from the king, but did not. Why then did he lead a heart? This is a suit in which declarer knows where the top three honors are. South could deduce that if West held the queen of diamonds third or fourth he would have led a diamond and since he did not do so, he probably does not have that holding. If that is the case, the heart lead was a choice from two worthless red suits, and East must hold the queen of diamonds.
On the other hand, declarer may simply have decided to play
East for the queen and found that his instinct was correct.
Whatever the rational for his decision, he was right to try for
the club pitch, and was rewarded with an excellent score.
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