A two-club opener who subsequently jumps in his suit is showing a suit that doesn’t need any support. North thought his hand held enough in the side suits to offer an invitation and South was happy to accept.
South won the opening trump lead with his ace and saw that he had plenty of tricks, but he had to find a way to get to dummy. He led the queen of spades from his hand at trick two, hoping the opponent with the king would take it, giving him the dummy entry that he needed. West was a wily veteran and recognized what declarer was trying to do. He ducked his king of spades! South now tried leading the queen of clubs from his hand and it was East’s turn to duck his king.
South still had a chance to endplay West with the nine of hearts. Did West start with ten-nine doubleton or ten-nine-low? East had followed with the seven at trick one and South judged that he was unlikely to play the seven from seven-three doubleton. South cashed the king of hearts as West continued his brilliant defense by following suit with the nine! This great effort by the defense was to no avail as declarer held the precious two of hearts.
South led the two of hearts, shedding a diamond from dummy, which West was forced to win with his three. Any lead from West at this point gave South a dummy entry and the rest of the tricks. Well done all around!
