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Follow Suit?

Actually, you cannot because it is the fourth round the club suit has been played and everyone followed to the first three rounds. So, you just have to find one discard.Only one. Surely, that cannot be too painful?

(1 is 5+ hearts: 3NT shows traditionally 19hcp. Many now bid 2NT to show 18-19 though on this occasion there was no further investigation for the best game to be done.)

On lead to 3NT, you finger a diamond but eventually decide on 9, a kind of interior sequence style lead hoping to find some good spades in your partner’s hand, too. The first trick goes 4, 3 (low encourage) from partner and J from declarer.

South plays 4 rounds of clubs (South held KQJ, with everyone following to three rounds. On the fourth round, your partner throws T (low encourage) and declarer 4 and you?

The initial sight of a mere 6 hcp in dummy must give defenders some hope even if the declarer was booked to have 19 hcp. This was not necessarily going to be that easy for South. South would have been relieved that clubs broke evenly with both East and South parting with a heart without too much discomfort. What, though, of West?

The encouraging 3 West received from their partner would mean they should retain both spades, not that baring the K seemed a great idea anyway. So, it was down to a choice between a diamond, from J83 or from  K852. With both other players throwing hearts, West decided to throw one as well. That was not such a good idea.

At trick 6, South called for dummy’s heart with Q losing to West’s K. West was not quite sure who held A and in case it was South with AJ doubleton, exited the 8 which was covered in dummy and won by East’s A. East exited a low diamond though declarer now had three high hearts, the diamond, a spade and four clubs to come to 9 tricks.

Deal Master Pro said the limit was only 7 tricks for South, meaning down 2! After the initial spade lead, the contract was never going to be beaten by two tricks since declarer scored a spade trick to which they were not entitled unless the defence opened up the suit. However, without West’s heart discard (“following suit”), South could never come to 9 tricks as they would lose two heart tricks, two spades and A, or else two diamonds, a heart and two spades.

West knew declarer started with five hearts. So, even though South discarded one on the fourth round of clubs, West should not discard to less than the same length of hearts as declarer if they could help it.
Guarding hearts

That meant discarding a diamond from J83 though East’s failure to discard a diamond gave some indication that they were guarding that suit. There was only one defender who could guard the heart suit and that was West.

the best lead.

Just because two players discard from the same suit is not a reason for the third to do so, as this deal demonstrated. In the end, the alternative opening lead of a low diamond would have beaten the contract more easily  (West's fingers were right!) but it should have been beaten any way.

So, this declarer triumphed when they should not have done. Same contract, same suit led. Will it be the same result?

 

West leads J. What's your plan to make 9 tricks..maybe even more, but 9 first of all. There is no bad break in spades.
Richard Solomon

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