Hints and tips:
...When this loses, East can cash K♠ and lead Q♦, but declarer has time to win A♦, cash J♣, cross to dummy with J♥, and then play A♣ on which he can discard a diamond loser....
...Either way, South’s J♣ scores his 12th trick....
...Winning in hand, South plays J♠ to A♠ and ruffs a low spade in hand. He crosses to dummy’s Q♥ and ruffs a second low spade, noting that the suit is dividing 4-3....
...The solution to these problems is, at trick 2, to duck J♣ lead....
...BiddingDealer South E/W Game West leads A♥ and, assuming a heart ruff in dummy, if West holds K♣ or Q♦, all should be easy. Leading a low club towards dummy’s Q♣ seems the best move....
...BiddingDealer: NorthLove All West led J♣ instantly; South indentified five losers: two diamonds, two low hearts and A♠....
...This achieved, he led a low club, West rose with A♣ and led his 6♦, which East won with Q♦. No third diamond appeared but, instead, East laid down 7♠....
...Now, he plays Q♦. If West could win, and he plays a heart, it provides a ruff and discard; if he leads a diamond, K♦ is the 10th trick; a club sorts out the suit for only two losers....
...Even if West could win Q♦, he is still struggling to avoid helping declarer. With J♦ winning, declarer next tried Q♥, also ducked by East, also winning....
...Now, each declarer played the club suit in the usual way: leading low from dummy and putting in J♣ from hand. This lost to West’s Q♣ and the contract was down....
...West duly rose with K♣, cashed Q♠, and led a second heart. South won and could play to Q♣, but he could not safely return to hand....
...To succeed wherever Q♠ and K♦ lie, West must be stripped of a safe way of getting off lead once he wins the first finesse....
...The deduction makes sense: if East leads a heart, West will surely be unable to ruff high ahead of dummy’s J♠ and this will indicate that East holds Q♠....
...East might have kept open his options by discarding Q♦ under the first round of the suit and then, when West led 10♦ subsequently, discarding J♦ under dummy’s second top honour....
...West led J♣; South faces a loser in each of other suits and, crucially, the fourth round of clubs too. Can you foresee what might go wrong?...
...At trick two, South ducks East’s Q♣; West does not ruff. East continues with J♣; South plays K♣ perforce, West will ruff and switch to a spade....
...The beauty of South’s play was this: even if West wins the third club trick with J♣, declarer was safe. What could West lead?...
...If West could cover 10♥ with J♥, declarer would play Q♥, losing to K♥. Back would come a low heart and South could play 7♥....
...Declarer played low from dummy and East false-carded with Q♦, South winning with A♦. Declarer felt that she faced a diamond loser and that trumps would have to split 2-2....
...Trusting them, declarer laid down Q♦ and his slam was gone. East’s J♦ and a club trick left him a trick short. As so often, running off all the trumps may prove revealing....
...East should ruff in, declarer over-ruffs with J♥, and West is stymied....
...Declarer played J♦ to West’s A♦, and warmly welcomed West’s enforced spade lead. Because he clung to them, and both bidding and play had revealed West’s shape, South knew that he held Q♠....
...It seems a guess as to who might hold J♥ but, in fact, the odds are clear: there are two chances to one that it is East who holds J♥....
...East hops up with A♦ and leads J♦. Declarer should play low, preserving his winner; he is blissfully unconcerned whether West ruffs with Q♥ or not....
...West led J♦, South ducked in dummy, and East took his K♦, before switching to Q♥. Declarer ducked, before winning the continuation in hand....
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