North should have passed two spades. He overbid his hand, leading to a poor contract, but South set out to make the best of it.
The opening club lead ran around to declarer’s 10. A heart to the king held the trick, and a club back to the jack lost to West’s king. West shifted to the king of diamonds, ducked by South, and then reverted to clubs. South won his two remaining club tricks, ending in dummy, and paused for thought. East had discarded three diamonds on the clubs, so South decided this was an indication that East had started with four hearts, so he led a heart back to his seven! West won with his ace, perforce, and shifted to the jack of spades — queen, king, ace. South cashed the queen of hearts, leaving this position:
West discarded the nine of spades on the jack of hearts. South led a spade, putting West on lead and forcing him to lead a diamond into the ace-jack. “I knew you could do it,” said North.
