Another example of the weak no trump in action. North-South don’t really belong in game, but it was hard to put on the brakes in the limited bidding space they had available. The contract, however, was not hopeless.
South thought for a long time at trick one. He finally decided to play low from dummy. East won with the king and shifted correctly to a diamond. South won with his ace and ran the jack of spades. East won with the ace and led another diamond. East had a diamond to cash when he got in with the ace of clubs and the contract ended up down one.
There was a winning line for declarer. He could have won with dummy’s ace of hearts at trick one and led a low club. It would not have helped East to rise with his ace, so South’s jack would probably win the trick. Now running the jack of spades would put South a tempo ahead. East would win the first trump and shift to diamonds, but South would have the time to draw the trumps and knock out the ace of clubs. The 3-3 club split would provide a parking place for his diamond loser.
In our opinion, declarer did not misplay this deal. There were many variables and the chosen line might have been the winner. It is not at all clear that the winning line would have worked. The success of close games like this one often depend on close decisions.
