Losing Option

Dealer: West
Vuln: N-S
Scoring: IMPs

  1. spade9 6 5 4
  2. heart3
  3. diamondJ 10 9 8 5 4
  4. clubJ 6
  1. spadeJ 10
  2. heartA J 8 7 6 4 2
  3. diamondA 7 3
  4. club7
club diamond heart spade NT
N - - - - -
S - - - - -
E 3 2 6 4 5
W 3 2 6 4 5
Green square in centre
  1. spadeA K 8 7
  2. heart10 5
  3. diamondK Q
  4. clubA Q 9 8 3

Contract: 6heart
Declarer: West
Lead: diamondJ

  1. spadeQ 3 2
  2. heartK Q 9
  3. diamond6 2
  4. clubK 10 5 4 2
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1heart Pass 2club Pass
2heart Pass 2spade Pass
3heart Pass 4NT Pass
5heart* Pass 6heart Pass
Pass Pass

* 2 aces

I'm sure you'd feel quite psychologically happy about finessing heartJ if South had followed with heart9 at trick one. South must surely be playing heart9 from heartKQ9, heartK9, heartQ9 or simply heart9 alone, in which case the jack is the no-lose play for West and is vital on the actual layout. But what if South had followed with at trick two with heart3 - now it doesn't feel right to play the jack does it? Indeed the percentage play is the ace in the hope of a singleton honour with North or a two-two split. But this means that South should play heart9 from either heart93, heartK93 or heartQ93 to give declarer a losing option!! It's another example of deploying a virtually no lose play to put doubt in an opponents's mind.
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