Two thoughtful plays lead to disaster

Looking through old bridge articles usually unearths some gems.

You would never guess, but here is one. What do you think about the auction? What happened in five spades doubled?

In the bidding, East might have rebid three hearts. His partner had guaranteed at least five, and we usually prefer majors to minors. But here, since the opponents owned the spades, there was less reason to insist on the major, and East's clubs were strong. If South had rebid three diamonds, he could have left the decision over five clubs to his partner.

(North probably would have passed or doubled. East would have lost one spade and two hearts.) However, South decided that he wasn't going to defend below the six-level.

Five spades seemed doomed to lose one spade and two diamonds. However, West led the heart queen. Declarer won with his ace and played a trump. West shot in with the ace and did what?

Since East was clearly marked with the diamond ace for his opening bid, West shifted to the diamond king, looking to ruff the third round of the suit.

Now, though, East paused, thinking, “West must have the diamond king and queen for this lead, so perhaps I can get a diamond ruff.” East overtook with king with his ace and returned the suit. Five spades doubled and made!

S.J. Simon, in The Observer newspaper in London, concluded: “East's play, though ill-judged, wasn't nearly as crazy as it looks. I've done more stupid things than that in my time. Much.”

Who was East? Skid Simon, of course!