My only excuse is that this was the last hand of the night, and everyone wants to get home! That is no excuse though as all the clues to the winning line were there in front of me. We had done very well to get to a good slam. I had realised playing in hearts would mean that North would probably need to ruff with his winning hearts, which would be needed for drawing trumps. Good so far but after the lead of the 8♥ my simple mind thought that if the spades are 2/2 I will be fine. Off I go and draw two rounds of trumps and I was now dead and drifted one off.

Let's rewind. What did West call in the bidding? Yes he made a take out double showing the other two minor suits. What did West lead? The 8♥, and doesn't that smell like a singleton? So what is West's shape likely to be? After the double he cannot be that shapely as surely he would have bid an unusual 2NT. The evidence points to him being 5/4 in the minors with 3 spades and a singleton heart.Can the contract now be made? Yes it can provided you can ruff three diamonds in dummy.So win the lead in dummy. You can afford to take out one spade trick so cash the K♠. Now starting with diamonds cross ruff 3 diamonds by returning to hand with the A♦ and then twice more by ruffing clubs. At this point you are in dummy and cannot afford to ruff another club as you could promptly lose control of the trump suit. So just play on hearts and bingo West is powerless.

Michael Whittaker

21 November 2013