Hard Luck Louie did well to play in clubs rather than spades. Game in spades would have been easy enough, but 12 tricks would not have been possible on this lie of the cards with a heart lead. Could he take 12 tricks in clubs?
East won the opening heart lead with the king and shifted to the tricky eight of spades. Louie won with his ace, drew three rounds of trumps ending in dummy, and led the 10 of spades. East played low and Louie had a key decision to make. He decided that East’ s eight of spades shift was an honest card, probably from two or three small, and rose with his king of spades. Alas for Louie, he could no longer make his contract. He could ruff the spades good, but with only one entry back to his hand – the ace of diamonds – he could never enjoy them.
Lucky Larry also reached six clubs from his side. He also won the spade shift at trick two, but he decided not to rely on any spade position at all. He cashed the ace of diamonds and ruffed a heart in dummy. He then ruffed a diamond with the ace of clubs and ruffed his last heart in dummy. He ruffed dummy’s remaining small diamond with the king of clubs, led the five of clubs to dummy, and drew the outstanding trumps. He claimed the balance with the king of spades, the king of diamonds, and the long trump. Well played!
