Bridge

West led the queen of diamonds, and on inspecting dummy South saw he could count on nine likely winners, with two options for the tenth: a heart ruff in dummy or the trump queen being onside or dropping.

So – possibly thinking to conserve his entries to dummy for spade finesses, he won the diamond in hand then led a low heart. East won and returned a trump. Declarer rose with the king of spades and continued with another heart. Again East won and again sent back a trump. This time South finessed, and on winning with the queen, West cashed the king of hearts. One down.

See the difference when declarer lead hearts, not from hand, but from dummy. He enters with the ace of clubs and plays a heart. Appreciating that West might be endplayed if allowed to win the trick, East rose with the ace and sent back a trump, South rising with the ace of spades.

Now dummy is accessed via its second top club and another heart was lead. If East had started with both ace and king of hearts, South’s queen would have been established. But East played the nine. Declarer played the queen, and although West won, he was unable to return a trump without giving up a trick in the suit. A diamond came back and South was able to ruff the third heart peacefully in dummy. Only a trump now had to be lost.