Only One

 Here is a hand that I declared against David Turner and Roy Hughes in the round-robin

of the CNTCs. The contract was 3♥ doubled on the following bidding, E-W vulnerable.

 

West	North	East	South
	2♥(1)	Double	3♥
Dble (2)	All Pass

(1) 5-5 in hearts and a minor, 3-10 HCPs.

(2) Responsive.

David led the 6♥.  The full deal:

 

 

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	74
		♥	J9532
		♦	8
		♣	A9864
West				East
♠	985			♠	AQJ2
♥	A84			♥	Q6
♦	A543			♦	KQ97
♣	Q105			♣	J32
		South
		♠	K1063
		♥	K107
		♦	J1062
		♣	K7

 

I fairly confidently played the K♥, expecting the lead to be from Axx. If I duck

and lose to the Qx, three rounds of hearts will leave me with 5 losers. Unhappily, I

saw the king lose to the ace. Fortunately for me the defence played two rounds of diamonds,

allowing me to set up clubs with a ruff, and eventually score my K♠ for +530.

 

Despite this result David found the only lead to have a chance at defeating the contract.

This hand just reinforces the theory that when you have the majority of high cards lead

trumps to cut down on any extra tricks declarer can make by ruffing in the short hand.