The Bridge Column

South had a sure trump loser and the contract seemed to depend on a successful finesse for the king of spades. East, however, had made a vulnerable overcall at the two level and his hand would be pretty pathetic without the king of spades. South saw a way to give himself an extra chance. South won the opening diamond lead with his ace, cashed the king, and ruffed a diamond in dummy. He cashed dummy’s king of clubs and led the queen of clubs to his ace. He ruffed his last diamond in dummy as West discarded a club. Having eliminated both minor suits from his hand and the dummy, South led dummy’s king of hearts. East won with the ace, but he had no safe exit card. East had to yield a ruff-sluff or lead a spade into the ace-queen and South had his slam either way. Very nicely played! Note that West could have defeated this contract by leading either major suit. We can’t fault West for leading his partner’s suit, however. Should East have overcalled? We don’t think so, but that is a personal choice that had little to do with this deal. We doubt West would have led a major suit on this auction even if East didn’t bid. Kudos to declarer!*