Spades vs. Diamonds

	J 3
	10 8 3
	K 9 8 2
	A 8 6 4
10 9		Q 8 6
Q 7 6 2		K J 9 5 4
J 10 7 3		5
J 9 5		Q 10 7 3
	A K 7 5 4 2
	A
	A Q 6 4	Contract: 6 spades, 6 diamonds
	K 2	Opening lead: various

East	South	West	North
Pass	1	Pass	2 !
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3
Dbl	3	4	6
All	pass		! Alerted

Three declarers made slam in spades, owing to 3 different defensive errors. Well, one wasn't an error so much as an unfortunate choice of opening lead. The other two declarers were granted a reprieve for being in a beatable contract for no good reason.

Case one: Opening lead the 9 of spades, which rides around to the K, a club was then led to the A and the J of spades was led -- and passed around uncovered. Oh, please! East is looking at the Q 8, just one spot lower than a certainty of a trick on a cover. And if her partner has the 9? Then the cover assures the defense of a trump trick, and the bad break in diamonds assures it of beating the contract.

The second declarer got the J of diamonds opening lead and chose to treat that as the top of a sequence, which it was. Indeed, declarer would've had a marked finesse if he'd choses to cash the second round of the suit with the closed hand's last honor. This is the defensive "error" that I'd rather regard as an "unfortunate choice". Sequences are often safe on opening lead -- but not always, as indicated here.

And the third declarer got the gift of a diamond discard on the third round of spades. Declarer hadn't even tried the non-finesse of the J toward K 7, but chose to lead low to the J and East's Q at trick 2. East came back with a low heart, and now got around to a third round of spades some tricks later, and West, looking at four diamonds in dummy and three hearts, chose to shorten his diamond suit. Keep the same number in a suit as dummy shows I have often exhorted my readers, adding in plain type "insofar as is practicable". Indeed, I have a category with examples of that under defensive play.

West not only sluffed a diamond, from a holding the same as dummy's and not only kept one more heart than dummy was showing, but East's low heart lead tends to indicate an honor.

In any event that cost the defense a-plenty. And diamonds? Well, no one was down in 6 diamonds. And for good reason, which was that everything is pretty solid, with only that fourth round of diamonds to lose. Take three rounds of diamonds, noting the split, then two rounds of spades and ruff the third round -- or do so if West doesn't ruff. It doesn't matter whether West uses his last trump there or not. If not, you ruff, come back to the closed hand with the A of hearts of K of clubs and run spades until West ruffs in. You're playing from the hand with the last trump and so will be on claim when West ruffs in.