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A lesson for making a play that had no reason

With all the major Bridge Club tournaments for the spring completed things get really slow at the club until after the summer — there is the International Fund Game on the 26th at the Club and a few players will travel to the ACBL Summer Nationals, but for many the summer is time for travel and the outdoors.This hand caught my fancy when I was given it as a declarer play problem …. needs a little bit of thought but I think is pretty cute:N/S Vulnerable. Dealer East.S A2H 10874D AQ87C J74S J9543 S 876H K63 H 5D K42 D 1093C 109 C AKQ632S KQ10H AQJ92D J65C 85WEST NORTH EAST SOUTHPass 1HPass 3H Pass 4HPass Pass PassSouths’s final bid with only 13 points and a horrible shape would not occur to many, but he made up for it in the playWest led the 10 of clubs and East played the queen, king and Ace which South ruffed with the jack after a brief hesitation West discarded a spade. Everything, including the hesitation, pointed to West having both red kings, as with either of them and a six-card suit headed by the AKQ east would surely have opened.The contract looked doomed as, unless West had exactly Kx of diamonds, there were two red suit losers Declarer, however, hatched a plan to punish West for his ‘smart’ play. At trick four he calmly led a low heart from his hand.West played low and when the 10 won declarer was off to the races. A heart to the Ace confirmed the heart loser, three rounds of spades throwing a diamond left this position:SH 87D AQ8CS J SH K HD K42 D 1093C C 62SH Q9D J65CNow a heart to West’s King left him endplayed. A spade and declarer would discard a diamond from dummy, ruff in hand and take the finesse — a diamond and declarer simply runs it to his jack and repeats the diamond finesse. 10 tricks either way.A lesson to West for making a play that had no reason for it other than to look a bit smart…..which he didn’t.

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