South in today’s deal was Philadelphia expert Ken Cohen. The contract looks impossible, but Cohen found a way home. He assumed that the opening lead was a singleton. Why else would anyone lead a club after this auction?
Cohen won the opening club lead in hand with the 10, cashed the king of hearts, and led a heart to dummy’s ace. He led a low spade from the dummy and inserted his 10 when East played low! Cohen cashed the ace of spades and then the queen of hearts, drawing the last outstanding trump. East had trouble finding a discard on the third trump and did the best he could by shedding a low diamond. Cohen led a club to the ace and ruffed a spade. When West showed out, Cohen knew that East had started with 4-2-2-5 distribution.
Cohen led a diamond to dummy’s ace, extracting East’s last diamond, the king, and exited with a spade to East, while discarding a club from his hand. East was forced to lead a club away from his queen in this three-card ending and Cohen took the marked finesse to make his slam.
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Had East put up his jack of spades on the first round of the suit, Cohen would have won with his ace, drawn the last trump, and led the 10 of spades. East couldn’t defeat the contract whether he won this with his king or ducked. Well played!