Some hands are a real tough cookie. Even with all 4 hands exposed sometimes it is difficult to visualise how the contract can successfully come through. Those who plan their play with meticulous care and have the foresight to visualise far ahead how the cards will break, have a good track record of success. Those hasty ones really stand no chance on this one where the declarer has to make 4S against west's lead of the spade 5.
On spade 5, east discarded the 4C. Take it from there. You see the contract has 9 sure tricks. 6 trumps, 2 red aces and a club trick. How does declarer manage the 10th is the vital question. Of course its easy to see that if the declarer can get a heart ruff in dummy he would triumph. But there are endless entry problems for him in the lurking and the defenders are already on the right track by the opening trumps lead.
What are your options? Let us take them one by one. If you try a club at trick two, west will knock out the second trump. And after taking club queen if you play a heart west will play low. Ah! Thinking of inserting the heart for east to take who has no trumps to return back. But that wouldn't help you either, would it? East will play a club forcing you to ruff prematurely with your only back entry while the hearts remain blocked with the AH in dummy. What if declarer refuses to ruff the clubs? Then west would take over and knock the third trump of dummy out to leave you stranded.
This looks bleak for the declarer. Well lets muster a little hope and play a heart from dummy after the second trump is knocked out. If east has the king he would certainly take it fearing declarer has the QH. But that is not the case here either. West has the entry with KH to knock out the third trump.
One of the hall marks of a good declarer is that he never gives up. Let us proceed further in the play after we are deprived of a heart ruff with the third trump knocked out from dummy. Entering hand with a club ruff. You play another trump to knock west out of trumps.
On the last trump west throes a heart per force and in the meantime east discards 3 clubs, the 4, 6, and jack along with 9 and 10 diamonds leaving the following end position of the hand. See the fascinating squeeze unfolding after declarer plays a diamond to the ace in diamond.
When the 8C is now played from the dummy, east is squeezed. If he throws a diamond, declarer would ruff the club and lead his remaining diamond to him setting up the diamond is dummy. So per force east threw the heart jack. Declarer discarded his useless diamond to give west the trick with club 9, which was going to be the defender's third and final trick. For west left with only 3 small hearts put dummy on lead with AH, dropping east's QH and making declarer's hand good with 9H a top trick now. Truly it was a well played hand of the year, but did you make it?
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North West East South
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AKQ 5432 - J109876
A7 K6543 QJ10 982
A8743 2 KQJ109 65
832 A109 J7654 KQ
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North West East South
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- - - J
A 654 QJ 98
A87 2 KQJ 65
8 9 - -
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