KHATIB KIBITZER
Compression

 
    Q875
    AKJ2
    Q92
   ♣ AQ
 

   K
   Q1098654
   J6
  ♣ 987
 

n
 
w           e
 
s


  A32
  5
  K1087543
 ♣ 65
 
    J10964
  3
  A
  KJ10432
 
 
  West North East South
   3 Double  4  4NT
  Pass   5 Pass   6♠
  All Pass      

Opening Lead: Jack of Diamonds
Neither Side Vulnerable.

Never give up on what appears to be a hopeless contract! Even when there is no legitimate winning line of play, it pays to remember that opponents don't have X-ray vision. A well-reasoned deceptive play may allow one to bring the contract home. Some such plays might work only against only less experienced defenders, but others can make life very tough on even the strongest players.
 
Over West's preempt, North might have opted for a natural three notrump bid, but doubled for takeout instead. East, vocal as always, offered a four diamond bid, and North "came alive" with his 6-5 hand and bid Blackwood. When North admitted to two aces, South fearlessly gambled on finding a magic dummy and bid slam in spades. West led his diamond jack.
 
Obviously the top spade honors needed to be in different hands for any chance, and if the suit divided 2-2, the defense would surely gather in two trump tricks. And a West player holding three spades to the ace or king would surely duck once if a low trump was led from South toward the queen. So the victim of the deception would have to be East, and East's trump holding would have to be Axx or Kxx.
 
Declarer started her razzle-dazzle play by trying hard to look like someone with a losing diamond rather than an anemic trump suit. Declarer started by covering the eight of diamonds with dummy's queen, capped by East's king and the singleton ace. South then led a heart toward dummy, and when West followed low, South inserted the jack of hearts and then called for the heart ace.
 
From East's point of view, a diamond loser in the South hand would explain South's delay in knocking out the Ace of trump. So when the Ace of Hearts was led, East ruffed small. East believed that ruffing high would allow South to pitch that non-existent losing diamond - a loser-on-loser play. And East thought himself ready if South overruffed the second heart and tried to repeat the play by then leading the other high heart from Dummy. After all, if East had started with only Ax of trump, and South held the spade king, South's plays would have succeeded.
 
South overruffed East at trick 3, of course, and then led a tricky three of clubs toward dummy - a falsecard intended to obscure any count signal West might attempt. Next came the heart king from dummy, and East, consistent with her view of the hand, ruffed small again.
 
South overruffed again, and the stage was set for the final act. South led a spade and watched as both opposing high spades came crashing down.
 
If you as declarer find an opportunity to pull off this kind of "compression play", please remember two things. The first is that for any such deception to work, you must avoid giving away the show. Maintain your composure and keep your play tempo even. The second is a warning. Do not gloat if your deception works!

♠   ♥   ♦   ♣

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