IBPA Column Service hand 668
IMPs: Dealer East; E/W Vulnerable
 J 8 6 K Q 6 5  Q 6 4  7 4 3 |
| A K Q 5 3 7 2 2 A K 8 6 2 |
The Auction:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 |
1 |
||
| Pass | 2 |
Pass | 4 |
| Pass | Pass | End |
Contract: 4
Lead: 10
After a simple auction, West led the ten of diamonds. East took this with the jack of diamonds and persisted with the ace of diamonds.
Before playing to this trick, declarer had decided that he needed both black suits to be 3-2 as the hand would otherwise be all but
unmanageable.
So, after ruffing the second diamond low, declarer played two top trumps, happy that the trump suit had behaved. Then, as he needed a heart trick and to keep trump control of trumps, he led a low heart to the king and ace.
After ruffing the king of diamonds with the five of spades, declarer correctly led a low club as a further means of keeping control.
This neutralised the threat of a fourth round of diamonds, which could be ruffed in dummy with the jack of trumps.
Then, after crossing back to hand with a club, declarer could draw the last trump and run the club suit for his contract. No other return would hurt declarer as he would be able to draw the last trump and again run the clubs.