South in today’s deal was American expert Eddie Wold, from Texas. The opening heart lead went to the six, seven, and 10. Wold led a club to dummy’s king, a club back to his ace, and ruffed a club — pleased to see the suit split evenly. He ruffed a diamond back to his hand and cashed the two top hearts before taking a moment to think.
West was known to have six spades from the auction, and had followed to two trumps, three clubs, and one diamond. He had one diamond remaining, likely the ace. At this point, Wold made the inspired play of leading a low spade from his hand toward dummy’s nine. West couldn’t duck, as the nine would win and Wold would ruff a diamond back to his hand, felling the ace. He would run clubs until East ruffed, and East would then have to lead a diamond into dummy’s king-jack. Declarer would end up with 11 tricks.
West won the low spade with his 10, but he had no answer. A spade would set up the king of spades for Wold’s tenth trick, and the ace of diamonds would eventually lead to East’s being endplayed, just as if West had let the nine of spades win. West decided to cash the ace of spades, holding Wold to 10 tricks. Nicely played!
