IMPs: Dealer South; N/S Vulnerable
 Q 7 6 3 K 6  8 5 4 2  A 7 5 |
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| A 8 4 2 A Q J 10 9 4 A 7 4 |
The Auction:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 |
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| 2NT | Pass | 3 |
3 |
| Pass | 4 |
End |
Contract: 4
Lead: K
West’s Unusual Notrump overcall turned out to be a poor choice once his opponents settled in 4: It drew a roadmap of how to play the contract and all the declarer had to do was read the map.
West led the K, taken by dummy’s A. Declarer counted nine top tricks with an easy tenth if the spades were 3-2. As a result, declarer concentrated on the case where spades were 4-1.
In order to obtain the likely layout of the major suits, declarer cashed the A and K. When West followed twice, declarer decided that the simplest course was to hope that West began with 1=2=5=5 distribution.
Accordingly, he made the best continuation of calling for dummy’s Q. This was guaranteed to hold the losses in the spade suit to two tricks if West’s singleton were the jack, ten or nine: it would have lost only when West had started with a singleton king or five (and in the latter case there would have been no 13 approach to the spade suit that would have succeeded).
The Q was covered by the K and A. Once West produced the nine of spades, the contract was assured.
Declarer drew the last trump then played a spade to the dummy’s seven and East’s ten. After winning the Q shift with the A, declarer played a spade to dummy’s six and East’s jack. Declarer conceded a diamond but claimed ten tricks: two spades, six hearts, a diamond and a club.
The complete deal:
| Q 7 6 3 K 6 8 5 4 2 A 7 5 |
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| 9 5 2 K J 10 9 3 K Q J 10 2 |
K J 10 5 8 7 3 Q 6 9 8 6 3 |
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| A 8 4 2 A Q J 10 9 4 A 7 4 |