Leave the endplay until the end

George Bernard Shaw claimed that if all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. A bridge declarer hopes to reach the right conclusion, winning the number of tricks needed to make his contract. In today’s deal, how should South play in two hearts doubled after the first trick goes spade queen, four, king, ace? West’s two-club rebid was New Minor Forcing, announcing at least game-invitational values. East’s double was for penalty, but West’s pass was highly debatable. Note that four spades would have been an easy make. The dummy was a considerable shock to South, but he kept his eye on the target. At trick two, he played a trump to the jack. East took the trick and returned a spade. After ruffing, declarer made the key play -- he led a club. He knew trumps were 4-1, so touching that suit was out of the question. East won with his 10 and exited with a trump to dummy’s nine. Now came the diamond 10, which held, and another diamond, East putting in the queen. South won and led a third diamond. East tried another trump, but declarer won on the board, ruffed a spade with his last trump and cashed the diamond jack for plus 470 and a cold top. Hard question: How could East-West have defeated the contract? This shows how tough bridge can be at times.

West must lead a low club and the defenders play four rounds of the suit, with East discarding either both of his spades or two low diamonds! The curious may work it out.