A K 5 2
K J 9 8 6 5 4
Q
5
9 Q 10 7 3 A 10 8 7 K 9 6 3
![[W - E]](t.gif)
Q 10 8 6 — K 5 3 Q J 10 7 4 2
J 7 4 3 A 2 J 9 6 4 2 A 8|
| A K 5 2 K J 9 8 6 5 4 Q 5
| |
| 9 Q 10 7 3 A 10 8 7 K 9 6 3
|
| Q 10 8 6 — K 5 3 Q J 10 7 4 2
|
| Both Vul | J 7 4 3 A 2 J 9 6 4 2 A 8 |
Gill West Pass 2 Pass | Richey North 1 ?3 Pass | Shore East Pass Dbl Pass Dbl | Cruskal South Pass 1 4 All Pass |
4 x by South
| Trick 1. W 2. S 3. N | Lead 6 3 4
| 2nd 5 9 ? | 3rd 10 A | 4th A 6 |
What South was thinking about for those 30 seconds, we may never know. I don't think he was doing anything unethical, but it was kind of annoying that he had an auto 4S bid. Anyway, it's not too hard to figure out the full hand here. The heart suit shouldn't really be a suprise. Why would declarer want to lead them off dummy? He might be trying to score a stiff Q, but that would be a clear mistake - he shouldn't be wasting entries to dummy when he could just be leading the Q to set up the suit. Much more likely, declarer is trying to score his A, unblock the suit, and get an entry to his hand. You see his problem - if he finesses immediately, he risks losing to a singleton Q, and blocks the suit at the same time. It's not too tough to see what will happen if you discard on this trick. Declarer will win in hand, finesse the heart J (or 9), and you will ruff. he will ruff your return in dummy, ruff a heart in hand, cross to the K, and start running heart winners, at which point the hand will be over. So, you must ruff this trick, which looks very weird, but it really puts it to declarer. What can he do? If he unblocks the A, he'll never get to his hand and he'll never be able to set up the long hearts. If he keeps it, you can pitch on the 2nd heart, leaving him an entry short to get to dummy, ruff out the hearts, then get back to run them. Your teammates opened a sane 4H on the North hand, which is completely cold and justifies my theory that 7-4 hand really should be played in the 7, not the 4.