This play is a cut above

Giambattista Valli said, “I want a woman to feel the cut of the scissors in the clothes.”

I wonder how many do and comment on it. But one word in Valli’s sentence gives you a clue to the stylish approach in today’s deal. South is in four hearts. West leads the club ace, then shifts to the diamond four. How should South fashion 10 tricks?

Today, many Wests would have overcalled two clubs. North made a Jacoby Forcing Raise, promising at least fourcard heart support and game-going strength. East would have done well to intervene with three spades because, despite the unfavorable vulnerability, surely West would have bid four spades over four hearts, reaching a cold contract! Suppose South starts with his singleton club. East wins with dummy’s ace, plays a spade to his ace and leads his heart. He establishes the heart king for a club discard and loses only three tricks. Alternatively, South pushes on to five hearts, which is one too high.

In this auction, South’s four-diamond rebid indicated a five-card suit headed by at least two of the top three honors.

In four hearts, the original declarer took trick two, cashed the heart ace and played another heart. However, West won with his king and shifted to the spade eight. East took that trick and gave his partner a diamond ruff to defeat the contract.

Yes, South was a tad unlucky, but after winning trick two on the board, declarer should have led the club queen and discarded his spade. This would have cut the communication between the defenders — a perfect scissors coup.