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More stories
I thought I had covered the bases with the stories from this deal, but I have two more incidents to report. First, I said that I had only encountered one declarer as East unlucky enough to receive a club lead. Catherine d'Ovidio also played 6♥ as East and misguessed (naturally enough) on the lead of the club jack.
| Board: 2. Dealer: East. Vul.: NS |
| | ♠ A 9
♥ 9 4
♦ Q J 5 4 3
♣ 8 7 6 3 |
♠ 10
♥ 8 7 5 2
♦ A 10 8 2 |  |
♠ K Q J 6 4
♥ A K Q J
♦ K 9 6 | | | ♠ 8 7 5 3 2
♥ 10 6 3
♦ 7
♣ K J 10 4 |
Tommy Garvey and John Carroll reached 6♥ from the West seat, avoiding this problem altogether. Carroll won the opening lead of the ♠9(!!) in hand and drew trumps. Now he passed the ♠K to North, (pitching a diamond from hand) and North continued his plan of disinformation by shifting to the ♦J. Carroll naturally took the ♦K, expecting to be able to claim, and advanced the ♠Q to pitch a club.
When the bad split came to light he ran the last spade to pitch another diamond and had arrived at this ending:
| | ♠ -
♥ -
♦ Q 5
♣ 8 7 6 |
♠ -
♥ 8
♦ A | |
♠ 6
♥ J
♦ 9 6 | | | ♠ 8
♥ -
♦ -
♣ K J 10 4 |
Carroll had to decide who had the club king. If it was North, he could ruff a spade to hand and catch him in a trump squeeze. If North pitches a club, declarer plays the club ace and ruffs a club to bring down the king, and his hand is high. If North pitches a diamond, declarer cashes the minor-suit aces and dummy is high.
Of course we all know a true expert would rather play for a squeeze rather than take a finesse. But after much thought Carroll simply took the club finesse and claimed 12 tricks when it succeeded. The reason? North's opening lead. With all those minor suit potential winners he would just have led a passive trump or cashed the spade ace. His actual sequence of plays argued that he did not have the club king.
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