The possible play and difficult defense

Mark Twain wrote, “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”

In truth, today’s deal contained several possibilities. South was in three no-trump. West led the heart four: six, queen, eight. East returned the heart two: jack, king, seven. West played a third heart. Declarer led a diamond to her queen, then played a diamond to the king. East won with the ace and led her last heart, after which South claimed the balance for plus 600.

What do you think of the bidding, declarer play and defense?

North should have raised straight to three no-trump. Don’ t use Stayman with 4-3-3-3 distribution.

West guessed well to lead a heart. I would have chosen the ineffective spade 10.

East knew that her partner had only four hearts. ( South wouldn’t have opened one no- trump with a singleton.) So, there was a strong case for East’s shifting to the club 10 at trick two, which would have worked beautifully here. Also, West knew that the hearts were 4- 4. So, after winning the second trick, she should have switched to the club king. This defense would have defeated the contract also.

Declarer knew that to get home she had to drive out the diamond ace. But she was worried that she might lose one diamond and four hearts. So, declarer held up the heart ace until the third round. But when East returned the heart two at trick two, it announced that she had started with four hearts. If hearts were 4-4, holding up couldn’t help. Declarer should have taken the second trick and played on diamonds.