Down 3 is Good Bridge?

2004
Charlottesville VA
Sectional Open Pairs
Matchpoints

	10 2 A 4 3 A Q 9 2 K 10 6 3
K Q 9 5 Q J 10 8 7 6 5 J 5		A 8 7 6 4 J 10 9 5 2 — A 8 7
None Vul	J 3 K 8 7 6 K 4 3 Q 9 4 2

West Pass 2 Pass All Pass

Mike North 1 NT¹ Pass 2 NT³

East 2 ² Pass Pass

Noble South Pass Pass Dbl 3

1. 14-16
2. majors
3. choice of contracts

3 by South
Down 3 — EW +150 — NS 87.50%

West led the Q, which ran to the K. At this point, Noble decided it would be better to play trumps from dummy and led to the Q. This was ruffed, and a spade to the king was followed by another diamond ruff, a heart ruff, a diamond ruff, a final heart ruff, and the A. Declarer managed to claim the last 5 tricks with trumps drawn and 4 left in each hand. Suffice to say that leading trumps from hand would not have allowed the opponents to make ALL 5 of their trumps separately. Fortunately, they're cold for 170 or 200 in spades.