“I’M no result merchant,” a player at the club told me in the lounge, displaying today’s deal. “My partner went down at 3NT, but I thought he acquitted himself very well.”
Cy the Cynic, who had been West, was sitting with me.
“Maybe so,” Cy snorted, “but no jury would have.”
At 3NT, South won the first spade with the nine and saw he could combine his chances for nine tricks. He would cash the A-K of one minor suit, and if the queen fell, he’d have four tricks in that suit, plus the A-K of the other minor suit, two hearts and a spade. If the queen didn’t fall, South would finesse for the queen (his best percentage play with an eight-card holding) in the other minor.
Alas, South guessed wrong: He started by cashing the A-K of clubs, collecting only low clubs, and then finessed in diamonds, losing to the doubleton queen. West ran the spades, defeating the contract.
Would you acquit South?
South had the right idea but could do even better. South could tell from West’s lead of the four of spades that West had no more than five spades, hence South could stall by returning a spade at the second trick to let West take his tricks. South would discard two diamonds from dummy and two clubs from his hand.
East could comfortably throw two hearts but would be pressured on the fifth spade. If he discarded a minor-suit card to keep a guard to his queen of hearts, South’s chances would improve. South would win West’s heart return and would probably cash the A-K of the minor suit East had discarded.