Interesting


A 7 5 2
A 2
Q 10 9 3
A 9 5
Q 10 4 K 6
6 10 9 7 3
5 4 A J 8 6 2
K J 8 7 6 4 3 Q 10
J 9 8 3
K Q J 8 5 4
K 7 Contract: 4 hearts, 4 spds
2 Opening lead: 7 of clubs

My first impression was that this was a pure example of the value of the forcing game. Declarer has only two more trump than East and must knock out 3 honors to reach his needed number of winners. So if the defense keeps pumping declarer with clubs, he's gotta wind up with one fewer than East has. How much purer can you get? But there are, well, impurities here, the principal one being that East has two of those three honors and only two clubs. So after the opening lead, he can lead clubs only once, and declarer shouldn't be forced to a lesser number than that defender has.
Indeed, when i picked up my stash of 7 declarer plays on this hand, the first three or four displayed poor declarer play, not a victim of an uneven trump break.
Case 1: Well, as it happens, this was played from the opposite side of the table, but it was the first one I looked at with such a glaring error at trick one that the reader won't have trouble looking from the North hand. Opening lead was the Q of clubs . . . ducked by declarer! That's an amazing duck. Declarer has to knock out 3 honors on a 4-level contract, and he's conceding a club trick! ! ! And he's not going to get that trick back, which sometimes, oftentimes, happens when declarer give up a trick he doesn't absolutely have to. As here:

K 9 8 7 2

A 4 3

Declarer with that diamond holding might well duck a lead of the K of clubs when dummy's clubs are as above. He'll know that East cannot get the lead, and he'll get the trick back by sluffing a diamond on the ace of clubs later, a trick he was always going to lose, cash A, the K of diamonds, then ruff a diamond, setting the suit up if splitting 3-2.
But here it's just a give-away for no good reason, and suffice it to say that declarer wound up losing a club, a diamond and two spades. Down one.
Case 2: Now declarer is South in the usual manner and he wins the opening 7 of clubs lead with the ace, leads a low diamond to the K, which holds. Declarer was now sitting in the catbird suit and didn't seem to recognize it. He doesn't need to knock out the A of diamonds. He got his diamond winner and can let that diamond loser go till trick 13 if that's the way the hand plays out. He doesn't need to give the defense that lead. He needed only to draw trump, and now with two trump left, he needs only find spades 3-2. Play the A of spades and a low spade. When everyone follows, he's on claim. He ruffs a return, and now with one trump left, knocks out the last defensive spade honor and claims.
But no, declarer followed up taking the trick with the K of diamonds with a diamond to the 9 and J! Yikes! What's he going to with the Q of diamonds if the finesse wins? He could only sluff a spade on it, but that fourth spade's a winner! Oh, he's not sure of that yet, but certainly he should be moving forward with drawing trump, knocking out the spade honors, etc. No forcing problems here -- until declarer manufactured a problem. East now led the Q of clubs, ruffed, declarer now leading three rounds of trump, went to the A of spades, back to East's K, ruffed the diamond ace. This was a trick he didn't need to submit to, unless East wouldn't mind establishing the Q of diamonds, in which case declarer is sitting even prettier. He wouldn't need to knock out spades for the fourth round. In the A of spades and Q of diamonds, he would have all the winners he needed. In any event, he now has the same number of trump as East holds, having handed over that disadvantage unnecessarily, and he still has to knock out the Q of spades to the defender holding all them clubs.
So it doesn't matter what he does now. If he draws East's last trump (which he did), he's now naked to West's high spade and high club at tricks 12 & 13. Down one. Yikes! It did matter what he did. Because of his peculiar play of the diamonds and the luck of the spot cards, declarer at that point could have salvaged the contract. The hand now looks like this:

7 5
------
Q 10
------
10 ------
------ 10
------ A 8 6
K J 8 ------
9 3
J 8
------
------

He must knock out West's top spade instead of drawing East's last trump. West forces him (out of his last trump) with a club lead and now declarer leads his last spade, forcing East out of his last trump. And sunufagun, but East has only diamonds left.
Interesting. I confess that I didn't see that at first and thought that when declarer was cut down to the same number of trump as East, it didn't matter whether he cashed out the high trump and gave up the ghost, or he knocked out West's last spade honor, accepted a force in clubs, and forced East right back, making use of those diamonds after all.
East plays his A of diamonds, declarer ruffing, and the hand looks like this:

7 5
------
Q
------
10 ------
------ 10
------ 8 6
K J ------
9 3
J
------
------

You can see that if declarer draws East's last trump with his last trump, he must then lead into West two winners (which is what he did). He must lead a spade, developing a spade winner. West wins and forces declarer to spend his last trump. But declarer plays his newly established spade winner, forcing East to part with his last trump. And now he has no choice but to lead to the Q of diamonds in dummy.
Case 3: Declarer won the opening club lead in dummy and immediately led a low club to ruff. What on earth? How could that be right? Had he a 5-1 or 6-1 club suit, it would make some sense if he hoped to set up long cards in dummy's long suit. Or had he needed to transfer the lead to take a finesse, okay. But there's nothing removitely valuable about ruffing from a 3-card suit with the long trump suit. And it obviously might do harm if trump don't split evenly. And declarer followed this up with two trump leads and a shift to the K of diamonds, won by East, of course.
Remember the declarer who took the opening club lead and immediately led a low diamond to the K, East ducking? Now that's bridge. Declarer has to get a diamond winner sooner or later and managed to get it at trick two -- and now can forget about diamonds. But a club ruff? With a heart winner he's always got? It's about listening to someone singing off key. There's just something out of whack here. However, since East won't be able to lead another club, and West isn't likely to get the lead more than once, lemme see if declarer still couldn't made his contract, or committed another faux pas, though when I note that declarer has no entry to the closed hand except by way of a ruff, it looks as though he;s done himself all the damage he could on this hand.
Anyway,
East took the K of diamonds and shifted to the K of spades, declarer winning with the ace. (Since spades have to be led 4 times on this hand, I wouldn't ducked that lead, as juicy as capturing the K looks, expecting East to think he's hit my weak spot and continue the suit. Anyway, declarer continued his self-inflicted forcing by winning the first spade led, then cashing the Q of diamond and ruffing a diamond. That leaves him with the same number of trump as East holds. And West gets the lead one more time.
He now led a spade to West's 10, followed by the Q, at which West now went back to clubs. This was ruffed by declarer, giving him one fewer trump than East held. So he cashed his last trump and played the J of spades, East ruffing with his last trump.
This was the most naked illutration of forcing declarer, who began with two more trump than an opponent held, down to one fewer trump than that opponent held. The only twist is that declarer did it to himself, or rather, did the first two forces bringing him down to the same number as East held, then allowing West to force him down to one fewer. An altogether misplayed hand for not much reason.
Case 4: Well, this declarer proceeded in a brisk manner. He won the opening club lead and ran four rounds of trump. Not too bad, though I woulda preferred that he led that diamond at trick two toward the K. Anyway, he now led a diamond to the Q, taken with the A and a club lead cuts his trump holding down to one. Oh, Oh, Oh. I see where he really went bonkers. He now cashed the K of diamonds. For what reason? That, I think, is what did him in. He went to the A of spades and lost a spade. Now, with one trump left and East holding nothing but diamonds, without that ridiculous cashing of the K of diamonds, declarer could've regained the lead and knocked out West's last spade honor and claimed.
But East led the J of diamonds, forcing declarer to ruff with his last trump. So when he knocked out West's Q of spades, that defender merely played a club, beating the contract. This declarer simply had no perception of where his likeliest winners were coming from. Winners should be 6 hearts, a diamond, a club and two spades on a hoped-for 3-2 split, which is there.
Case 5: From the North hand. Q of clubs opening lead (opposite a club bid), won by declarer who now led a low club, sluffing the 3 of spades in dummy ! ! ! ! What on earth is that for? That's not a loser on a loser (where some players seem to think they're getting away with something when they get rid of two losers on one trick). The fourth spade is a winner on the 3-2 split. Of course he doesn't know spades are splitting 3-2 yet, but does he need to know? When he has trump to draw, a diamond to develop with the Q in one hand, the K in the other, and a long spade to develop on a 3-2 split . . . when he has all those tasks before him, he doesn't hop to any one of them? He throws away a club trick. Now he still has to lose a trick to the A of diamonds, to the K of spades and to the Q of spades. That's four, and not the way to fulfill a four-level contract.
Opening club lead taken in dummy (another played from the North hand). Diamond to the K, holding as RHO ducks. Looks good. Four rounds of trump. Can't complain. Declarer with two trump left now needs only to go to the A of spades, then lose a spade to the K, regain the lead and lead a spade to the Q. He'd have one trump to cash his fourth spade. But declarer simply kicked away this promising start by now leading a low diamond to the 9 taken by the J. Hey, man. Suppose the finesse drew the A? Whaddarya gonna do with the Q of diamonds?
The only card you can sluff on it is a fourth spade! Which is a winner! Oh, wouldn't he have had the last laugh if spades had split 4-1 and the diamond finesse was on! Yes, of course. He woulda looked like an expert with unusual insight. But it woulda been mere luck and you can't bank on the improbable, that is, not to advantgage in the long run.
East now took advantage of his remaining club to force declarer down to one trump than he held. And now when declarer went to the A of spades and low spade to the K, East had the equivalent of a third club, for he led the A of diamonds, forcing declarer out of his last trump. And now when declarer knocks out the Q of spades, West cashes the K of clubs as declarer's J of spades is played uselessly under it. What a waste.
Had declarer not fiddled with the diamonds after winning with the K, East would've been able to cash his A of diamonds at that point (second round), but he can't force declarer who could take a continuation with the Q, in which case he wouldn't need a second spade winner.
Case 7: Four spades, played from the North hand, down two! The hand plays just as easily in spades. Win the club lead, lose a spade, ruff a club from LHO in dummy, lose a spade, ruff a club from RHO in dummy. Dummy now has no trump, he goes to the A of hearts, plays the A of spades, drawing the last trump and runs hearts, sluffing four diamonds. He now ruffs a diamond with the closed hand's last trump. Plus 5.
This declarer took the opening club lead with the ace and immediately ruffed a club! Oh no! Like a few declarers above, this one's doing the defense's work. That fourth spade in dummy is a trick he's always got coming and one the defense will quite likely force him to take soon enough anyway. Declarer must think of developing the hand. Hearts don't need any development, clubs have nothing to develop, declarer may or may not need to knock out the A of diamonds, and spades obviously need to be drawn from the defensive hands so that hearts can be run.
Is there anything revolutionary or esoteric about that? Isn't "getcher trump out" a universal early exhortation to all bridge players? Is there any chance of making the hand if trump aren't drawn from the defensive hands? Well, anyway, lemme see why declarer went down two.
Declarer followed that ill-advised quick ruff with the A of spades and another club lead, only this time sluffing a low diamond! Well, there's a thrown trick right there. The 9 of clubs loses to the J. What's the sense of that? And as for diamonds, this shortening of the doubleton to a stiff K of diamonds, does nothing for the diamond suit. It's beginning to be understandable why declarer managed to go down two.
RHO, who won trick 4 with the J of clubs, now led a heart, declarer winning with the A, and now leading a low diamond, LHO naturally going up to take the now stiff K, and now he too led a heart, ruffed by RHO with the 10. So much for dismissing the age-old advice to getcher trump out. Declarer has at this point lost three tricks (the A of diamonds, the J of clubs capturing the 9 and now a ruff). Now a club lead from RHO (the closed hand sluffing a diamond) allows LHO to ruff with the K and shoot another heart back, allowing RHO to ruff with the Q! So I guess that makes 5 tricks. The defense was now spent and declarer could take the rest of the tricks. Or perhaps it would be more realistic to say, declarer was forced to take the rest of the tricks.
Can declarer really wind up plus 5 in spades? And how come? Well, not exactly. The defense can cash the A of diamonds at any time they're on lead and always have two spade winners coming. But yes, on the line above, if they don't cash that A of diamonds, if declarer will simply get out trump, losing two rounds while retaining the A, and if the defense pushes club forces, then declarer can wind up plus 5, which he could never do in hearts.
The reason for that is the value of a balanced suit for trump over an unbalanced. The fact that spades look very weak and hearts are solid doesn't negate that fact. Declarer's always losing two spade tricks (well, this declarer lost 3), whether in hearts or spades. But once lost, that unbalanced side suit allows declarer to run the rest of the tricks, sluffing four diamonds (if that number still remains) on the 6-2 hearts.
The spade contract has nothing to do with forcing, of course, and belongs more properly with "Getcher trump out".