Beautifully played: Not so beautifully played
Well defended: Not so well defended.
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 K 9 7 4 3 |
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 K J 8 4 |
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 K 9 7 5 |
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| A 10 5 |
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J 8 6 2 |
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| 10 7 5 | |
6 |
| Q 6 3 | |
J 10 8 4 |
| A 8 7 3 | |
K 10 6 2 |
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| Q |
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A Q 9 3 2 |
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A 2 |
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Q J 9 5 4 | Contract: 6 hearts |
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Only one person bid and made 6 hearts here (a beatable contract with best defense), while two made 12 tricks in 5 hearts. Five people were down in slam, one in grand slam. Two of these five got the opening lead that allowed 12 tricks but failed to take advantage of it.
First, let me go through the declarer who played it well with the ace of clubs opening lead. Ruffed in dummy, of course, a spade to the queen and ace, a heart lead (a trick too late) taken in dummy, ruff a spade, ruff a club, ruff a spade, ruff a club, diamond to the ace, cash two more heart winners, sluffing diamonds in dummy, and now a lead to the king of diamonds allows declarer to cash the king of spades and the long spade.
Spades must split 4-3, of course, and if they do, we count: 2 spade winners, 2 diamond, making 4. None in clubs, barring a lucky break, which means 8 heart winners are needed. There's no way around it. And to get 8 heart winners, you must ruff 3 clubs in dummy. So as you ruff out spades to establish the long spades, you're also using the entries to ruff 3 clubs, well, two after ruffing the ace of clubs opening lead, at which point you can draw trump and enter dummy for the remaining three winners.
Here are where some declarers went wrong: Club ace, ruffed, a diamond to the ace! Whoa? What for? I mean, a 4-2 suit? You're not going to set that suit up and had better think of setting up the spades. But worse was to follow. Ruff a club, diamond king, diamond 7, ruffed with the heart 9, ruff a club, diamond 9 covered with the 10 (now that's the end of diamonds), ruffed with the 3 and overruffed with the 5!
This declarer simply didn't count winners (q.v), apparently didn't count diamonds, and by golly, if you're going to ruff twice, you ruff the first time with the 3, and the second time with the 9, which can be beat by only one card, which happens to be in the wrong hand for declarer, but at least it makes better sense than ruffing the 4th round with the 3. Even if he didn't count winners and played out to the12th, declarer's instinct should be first to go for his long side suit to ruff out, i.e., his spades, and secondly should want to keep the communication in diamonds, a suit he can't set up for a long card, until absolutely needed. And that works too for the declarer who ruffs three clubs.
My hat is off to the defender who, with two aces, led a trump on opening lead and then again when taking a trick with the ace of spades. Gutsy. Now there's no way declarer can pick up 8 heart winners. After two trump leads, declarer now has 5 trump left, which makes 7 his max. And with only 4 side suit winners, that precludes making the contract.
And those who led the spade ace? That also seems to beat the contract. Declarer is lacking an entry for ruffing 3 clubs that those who led the ace of clubs offered. I tried (mentally) playing a dummy reversal, i.e., getting four ruffs in the closed hand for 8 trump, but it just didn't seem to work out. Even so, I thought the trump opening lead a gutsier lead (the trump continuation is marked upon taking his ace of spades).
Of the two declarers who got that ace of clubs opening lead which allowed 12 tricks to 3 other declarers but not to them, one tells us he's an expert, the other that he's advanced. The defender who made the gutsy trump opening lead gives no self-ranking, but both Lehmans (IMP's & MP's) are under 50%. Yet we see people telling us they don't want anyone with Lehmans under 50. They should be so lucky as to get that player for a partner, methinks.