Three no trump was headed for down one or more, but South came up with a startling line of play when he was able to read the opponents’ table action.
South played dummy’s queen of clubs on the opening lead after much thought. East hesitated slightly before playing the jack. South interpreted this as a play from a doubleton jack, rather than a singleton. South then ran dummy’s jack of diamonds, which held the trick after a slight hesitation by West. South led a low spade to his jack, winning the trick when East played low. Declarer cashed the ace of diamonds and both opponents followed.
South was sure that West had ducked the queen of diamonds earlier. West wouldn’t have ducked with only three diamonds, as South, had shown six during the auction. He was already playing West for five clubs after trick one, and now it looked like he also had four diamonds. Should West also hold the doubleton ace of hearts, there was a ray of hope. South led his heart and West innocently played low — a decision he would soon regret. Dummy’s king won the trick. Declarer cashed dummy’s ace of spades and exited with a low heart to West’s now bare ace, discarding a diamond from his hand.
West cashed the ace of clubs and led a club to South’s king, but South led his last club to West. West cashed another club, but then had to lead a diamond into declarer’s king-10. Not bad!
