SUCCESS OR FAILURE HANGS ON AN ENTRY

It's no good for a defender to have winners in his hand if he doesn't have an entry and his partner is now void in the suit.

Cover the West and South cards. Against three no-trump, West leads the heart jack. Declarer tries dummy's king, but East wins with the ace. At this point, South's spirits noticeably sag; he is expecting the whole suit to be run. But after East cashes the heart queen, despite hunting assiduously, he cannot find another heart to lead. What should East do now?

North might have reversed with two spades on the second round of the auction, but there wasn't much point, since South had denied four spades. It was correct just to shoot out three notrump.

East knows that his partner must be holding at least four heart winners because South didn't bid one heart over one diamond, which he would have done with a four-card suit. But how can West get on play to cash those winners? He seems unlikely to have an entry card.

There is one chance: West must hold the club queen. Her majesty will be an entry if, at trick three, East switches to the club king.

Probably declarer will win with dummy's ace, cross to hand with a spade and take the diamond finesse. However, East will win with the king, lead a club to his partner's queen and sit back to watch while West cashes his four heart winners to defeat the contract by two tricks.

This play, sacrificing an honor to establish an entry for partner, is called the Deschapelles Coup, after Guillaume Deschapelles, a famous whist player.