Better to Defend

Pages: Page 4 of 4

Dealer: South
Vuln: N-S
Scoring: Pairs
  1. spade9 5 2
  2. heart2
  3. diamond9 7 4
  4. clubQ 10 8 7 3 2
  1. spadeK 10 8 7 4 3
  2. heart10 8 3
  3. diamondA 6
  4. clubA 5
club diamond heart spade NT
N - 1 - - -
S - 1 - - -
E - - - 2 -
W - - - 2 -
Green square in centre
  1. spadeQ J
  2. heartJ 7 6
  3. diamondK Q 8 3
  4. clubK J 9 4

Contract: 3spade
Declarer: West
Lead: heart2
  1. spadeA 6
  2. heartA K Q 9 5 4
  3. diamondJ 10 5 2
  4. club6
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1heart
1spade Pass 2heart 3diamond*
Pass Pass Dble 3heart
3spade End

* !!!!

Knowing from the auction that his partner had very little strength, South continued with a fourth round of hearts. North obliged by ditching his final diamond and when South won spadeA he was able to give North a diamond ruff. Neat eh?
South would not have been so happy had he been left in 3heart doubled. Normal defence leads to one off and minus 200, but at double dummy it could have been 500. clubA, three rounds of diamonds on which West throws club5. clubK. South is fixed. Even if he throws his losing spade a further club from East promotes a defensive trump trick.

27/03/2026: It strikes me thsat South doesn't need these fourth-round-of-hearts heroics. What's wrong with playing a diamond after the three rounds of hearts? Knowing his partner started with three diamonds, South can still give him a ruff. Am I missing something here?
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