Concentrate on the Essentials!!!!

[OliverC]

I keep trying to drum this into you guys, and I'll keep on doing it until the message gets through:

Love All, Dealer East

You are North, holding

North
AJ732
AKJ1063
-
87

Bidding
East     South     West     North
1       No          2        2
X          No          3        3
X          All Pass

West leads the 9, and Partner puts down

South (Dummy)
10864
82
Q4
KJ643

9 led

North
AJ732
AKJ1063
-
87

You try the J, but West wins the Queen and switches to the 5. You take the King and try Ace and another Spade, but West shows out on the second Spade. East wins the Queen and switches to a top Diamond. How do you plan to make 9 tricks?

The position is now

South (Dummy)
108
8
Q
K643

9 led

North
73
KJ1063
-
8

You've already lost 2 tricks and there's still the last top Spade and the Ace of Clubs to lose. The opening lead makes it almost certain that the Ace is with West. The thing here is that there is absolutely no time to lose. You must start on the Hearts right away. If the Hearts are 4-1 with West and East ruffs your King with the last trump, you will be -1, but you cannot afford to try for anything else, because you will be forced in Diamonds (and/or Clubs) and in any case you have no easy entry to Dummy to take the Heart finesse given the likely Club position. It's looking fairly certain that East started with 9x and West with AQ10x.

You must, therefore, play for the Hearts to be 3-2 (any way) or 4-1 with East. If East has 4-card Hearts you will have a marked ruffing finesse in the suit.

Partner in the North seat tried a Club to the King at this point (East played the 5) and West took the Ace and returned the 2. North compounded that error by ruffing this in hand (East being marked with a doubleton at this point, so Dummy's Clubs would be high enough to win the trick if East didn't ruff). East overruffed with the King and cashed the King. Now there was no way to sort the Hearts out and get back to hand to enjoy them and she ended up -2 on this hand when she should have been making, something like a 15 IMP difference in the score.

Even if West did start with 4-card Hearts, attacking the Hearts straight away is only -1 (which was effectively the par score), but it's the only decent chance to make, and so should be grabbed with both hands.