East won the opening heart lead and shifted to the jack of spades in an effort to prevent ruffs in the dummy. This ran around to dummy’s king and South took a moment to plan his play. West was marked with the ace of spades, so East needed the ace of clubs to justify his opening bid. Declarer led dummy’s king of clubs and discarded a diamond when East played low. East came to regret his choice.
South led a heart to his king and another heart, hoping for a ruff. West stepped in with the nine of spades, cashed the ace of spades, and exited with his last spade. South won in his hand and cashed another spade, leaving this remarkable end position:
Declarer led his last spade. West and dummy both shed low clubs, but what about East? East couldn’t afford a discard in either red suit, so he let go of his ace of clubs. South cashed the ace of diamonds and then led his low diamond. West won and had to lead a club to dummy’s queen-10. South lost his king of diamonds, but gained two club tricks as compensation.
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