Some More

	Q 9 7
	A Q 4 3 2
	9
	A 9 5 3
A 10 5		2
9		K J 10 7 6 5
7 6 4 2		J 10 5
10 8 7 4 2		K J 6
	K J 8 6 4 3
	8
	A K Q 8 3
	Q

The second (going down) declarer I looked at actually got a club lead, and so had no reason to suppose or even suspect that hearts were 6-1, and so I can't say he "should have known". [I evidently discussed this hand elsewhere, as references to "yesterday" indicate, and my focus seems to have been on trying to re-enter on your LHO's chosen suit.] Nevertheless, the most common mistake lay not so much in going for a second-round ruff in hearts but in blocking the spade suit. Declarer didn't go for two diamond ruffs and so should have brought the contract home with aplomb. He won the opening lead in dummy and led a spade to the jack, taken by the ace. He ruffed the club continuation, cashed a high diamond and ruffed a diamond, then cashed the queen of spades. Now how does he get back to the closed hand?

Well, as stated, one can hardly blame him at that point for choosing the second round of hearts over the third of clubs, which one opponent seems to be mighty interested in. But one can blame him for blocking the spades in the first place. If only he would have cashed a diamond a trick two and ruffed a diamond, then looking at queen doubleton in spades, he almost surely would have played the queen to avoid the blocking.

A third declarer went for two diamond ruffs, like the declarer discussed yesterday. And then, though he too got a heart opening lead, he chose that suit over clubs to try to get back, with the same result, of course.

A fourth, getting a heart opening lead, was overruffed at trick four! He didn't even want to try clubs, a suit the opponents didn't attack for the first re-entry?

A fifth, the only other declarer to get a club opening lead, didn't make the mistake of blocking the suit, like the first declarer discussed above, but did go for ruffing two diamonds in dummy. He came back the first time with clubs, but the second time with a heart to his presumed dismay.

The sixth, with a heart opening lead, took his diamond ruff immediately, and now with a queen doubleton in dummy, which above I suggested would surely have warned declarer to lead the queen and avoid blocking the suit, went ahead and did just that, leading low to the jack and ace. Now a spade return locked him in dummy and without even trying clubs, went for a ruff in the suit West was interested in and thus went down.

A seventh took an immediate diamond ruff, blocked the spades with a lead to the jack and ace, and now on a club lead, ruffed a club and ruffed a second diamond with the queen! Yesterday I pointed out all the disadvantages of going for two diamond ruffs as opposed to banking on the 4-3 split favored by the odds. Here's another reason why that was ill-advised. Declarer is ruffing with an honor he needs to draw trump. He was soon overruffed on a heart lead, but West had a guarded ten at that point and so had a trump trick coming in any event.

An eighth went for two diamond ruffs, the second one with the queen (when he still had the 9). The second ruff alone doesn't queer the contract -- if declarer doesn't squander the queen and guesses right about returning to the closed hand with clubs. But it sure does challenge fate. Imagine what a hero he'd have been if East showed out of diamonds and now trump split 2-2! Unfortunately each split necessary to become a hero was against the odds and neither panned out. After ruffing with the queen, declarer led the 9 to the jack, his way of unblocking, it would seem, and West only had to bide his time to get two trump tricks.

Another declarer, with a heart opening lead was also overruffed at trick 4 on a heart from dummy and thus certain to go down. He apparently was trying for a second diamond ruff, but West followed his overruff with the ace of trump and then the 10, wiping out dummy's trump.

And a tenth was the third one, I believe, overruffed at trick 4, paying no heed to the implications of that heart opening lead, not to mention the absence of any need to re-enter the closed hand with a ruff! You ruff one diamond and then get out the trump. Yes, the hand is that simple.

The first declarer mentioned above led a club for his first lead and then another club when in with the ace of hearts. This declarer could have made his contract, after blocking the spade suit, by going for a third round ruff in clubs instead of resorting to hearts. That would seem to knock into a cocked hat my ruminations of being awfully suspicious of the suits initiated by the opponents in a trump contract. Well, okay, if that's the way you see it. But then I haven't suggested that any principle always works, and secondly this declarer wouldn't even have had to make a choice if he didn't block the spades in the first place, and lastly I might point out that of the ten declarers covered (yesterday and today), no fewer than 8 got a heart opening lead. That, I believe, should say something about the proclivity of defenders to lead singletons against suit contracts, no?

Having said that, I went back to look at the opening lead against those who made the contract and found almost the identical ratio: 11 out of 14 Wests led a heart. [A fairly simple hand: Win the opening lead, cash a diamond, ruff a diamond and lead the Q of spades to avoid blocking.]