Do not hurt partner with careless play

Moliere, in “Tartuffe,” pointed out that “one is easily fooled by that which one loves.” As we all love bridge, sometimes we are fooled by that as well. Certainly, South complained vociferously after going down on today’s deal, but he had been fooled by the cards. Would you have seen the right play? South’s opening bid of two no-trump showed 20-22 points. After West led the heart jack, what should declarer have done? Things looked easy to South. He won the first trick and immediately attacked diamonds. However, East, noting his partner’s high-low with a doubleton, held up the ace until the third round. Then East returned his remaining heart. Now declarer had the problem of getting into the dummy. He led the spade queen, hoping someone would win with the ace. No joy -- East ducked. Next South led a low spade, but he couldn’t guess correctly. East cashed three spade tricks and exited with a club. South finished with only eight tricks. “How unlucky can I be?” asked South. “The diamond ace is third, and both spade honors are sitting over the dummy.” North was unsympathetic. “You overlooked the most important card in your hand,” he remarked. “Which was that?” “The spade nine. After winning East’s heart return at trick five, lead the spade nine and run it. How does East defend? If he wins with the jack, you have a guaranteed dummy entry, either by leading low to the 10 or by overtaking your queen with the king, whereas if East ducks the trick, you just lead the spade queen. You must win nine tricks from two spades, three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs.”