Source: www.acbl.org

Here is a deal that does not look like much until you uncover its secrets:

At favorable vulnerability, your auction is:

Note North’s 4 bid. He made a preference bid of 2 on the second round and South made a game try with 2. North’s hand is huge now and he made the interesting choice of 4.

Would you have thought of that bid? South, now knowing that North has serious club support, bid 6.

West leads the 2. What is your line of play?

Second question: Imagine that North has the  K J 10 9. What is your line of play?

Third question: Imagine that North has the  K Q 10 9. What is your line of play?

The lesson of this deal will be more meaningful if you decide on your play before reading on. After deciding, be sure you can explain why your choice is best. Take another look at the North–South cards and then answer this last question before looking at the entire deal. Do you think that West has all four missing trumps?

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Here’s the full deal:

Let’s see what happens if you finesse the jack or 9 at trick one. East plays the queen and you win the ace. If you go for the obvious line of ruffing three spades in dummy, it will leave West with the 10 8 of clubs, both of which become winners. The winning play is to rise with the king at trick one. It is impossible that West has the  Q 10 8 2. Have you ever seen anyone lead a trump from that holding? Once you see the danger and correctly play dummy’s king, you are home. You can ruff three spades in dummy. You will lose a trick later, but you can afford one loser. Now consider what happens if dummy has the K J 10 9. The first 10 players I showed this hand to reached for the 4J, which was covered with the queen. South won and soon found that ruffing spades in dummy was not going to be a winning line. Here’s why: In the endgame, West will remain with the 8 2. South will have the 7 6 after ruffing out the spades. If declarer plays a trump, however, West will win and tap declarer in hearts. So even when dummy has super clubs like the K–J-10-9, it was correct to play the king from dummy. And if dummy has the  K Q 10 9, the same trap exists. Congratulations if you put up the king in all three layouts.