Source: Observer-Reporter – 28 Nov 2007
Both Vulnerable Dealer North
Lead= ?
The great British player/writer Victor Mollo created a fictitious bridge club and a cast of characters who became more famous than most real bridge personalities. One was the Rueful Rabbit, a bumbling character who would drop cards, revoke accidentally, pull the wrong card from his hand — you name it, he did it, and invariably it turned out to be the winning action. He must have been sitting West on this deal.
Since the auction accounted for almost every high card, the Rabbit reasoned that his only chance to beat the contract was to give partner a ruff, and the only likely suit for that was hearts. He pulled the jack of hearts from his hand but, to his horror, the king fell on the table face up, and so became the opening lead. Declarer won with the ace and immediately led a trump. West won with the ace and then led the jack of hearts, covered by the queen and ruffed by East. No matter what East returned, there was no way declarer could avoid losing a club and a heart — down one.
Note that the lead of the jack of hearts would not have defeated the contract. Dummy’s queen would win and West would win declarers trump play and give his partner a heart ruff. But, since declarer still had the ace of hearts, the defenders could win only a club trick and the contract was safe. Also, no other lead would endanger the contract.