The declarer in today’s deal is not known to us. We would happily provide it, if we could, as he deserves recognition for his efforts here
East won the opening diamond lead with his ace, felling the king from South. East shifted to a low heart, ducked to West’s queen. A heart to the ace and another heart put South on play. Declarer played a spade to the ace, a spade back to his king, and another spade to East. East led a low diamond and South had to guess what to do. He could only afford one more loser. Should East have the queen of diamonds, South could discard a club on this trick and then would only have to guess the club position, assuming it was guessable. South chose to ruff the diamond. He led a club, putting up dummy’s king when West played low. South ruffed a diamond, felling the queen and leaving this position:
South led a low club and the defense was helpless. Should West duck his ace, East would win and have to give dummy the jack of diamonds. The ace from West would drop East’s queen and make dummy high. Beautifully done!
Published – May 14, 2026 11:24 am IST
