It Didn't Happen But . . .

By Ron Klinger

Dealer North. None Vul.
	♠ A Q 9 7 ♥ 7 3 ♦ K J 9 2 ♣ 7 6 4
	♠ K 8 6 5 3 ♥ 8 2 ♦ A 5 4 ♣ K Q 10

West	North	East	South
-	Pass	1♣	1♠
2♦(i)	2♥(ii)	Pass	2♠
Pass	3♦(iii)	Pass	4♠
All Pass

(i) Transfer to hearts
(ii) Strong spade raise
(iii) Game-try, values in diamonds

Lead: ♥K

East overtakes with the ace and shifts to the ♣3: king, two, four. You draw trumps in two rounds and exit with a heart. West wins cheaply and plays the ♣J to East's ace, and you win the next club, West discarding a heart. How would you continue? With 18 HCP missing, West has turned up with six already. That leaves 12 for East's opening bid. As the normal diamond finesse will fail, cross to dummy in trumps and lead the ♦J. If East plays low, you run it. If East covers, you capture the ♦Q with the ace and finesse the ♦9. In the pre-tournament practice match between the Seniors teams from Denmark and Australia this play meant only an overtrick since both sides played in a spade partial. East did have:

♠ J 4 ♥ A J 6 ♦ Q 7 3 ♣ A 9 8 5 3

The alternative line of ♦A, ♦K gains only against Q-10 doubleton with East, much less of a chance.