«Keep smiling. Make the world wonder what you’ve been up to.» — Jim Baker
During the play of today’s interesting game, declarer kept a sly smile on his face. Unfortunately for West, he didn’t discover what it was all about until it was too late.
N/S vulnerable Dealer: North
The bidding:
Opening lead: 
5
West led his fourth best spade and East won with the king. East returned his 10 and declarer played his queen. There was that sly smile on his face, and he played with a slight air of resignation.
West swallowed the bait and took his ace and returned another spade to clear the suit. Declarer won the jack, and the defense was stymied.
Later when declarer took the losing diamond finesse, East had no more spades and declarer ran off with his contract and an overtrick.
East criticized West and asked, «Couldn’t you see through that carpetbagger’s trick? Why didn’t you refuse the second spade so that we could later run the suit?»
West answered, «I believed him because I thought it was unethical for him to fool me in that way. Believing him a man of honor, I thought he had a doubleton queen.»
«You’re wrong on several counts,» East retorted. «First, declarer is at liberty to play whichever card he chooses, and the ethics regarding his deceptive manner is, at least, a debatable point. The truth is that you gave little thought to my return of the 10, which should have made the whole matter clear.»
East was right, of course. Had he held the jack of spades as well as the 10 he would never have returned the 10. He would have led the top of two touching honors.
West did learn something from today’s hand — one lesson on ethics and the other about reading the meaning of routine defensive plays.