| West | North | East | South |
| 1♣ | Dbl | 3♣ | Pass |
| Pass | Dbl | Pass | 4♠ |
| All Pass |
After East’s pre-emptive raise in clubs and partner’s second takeout double, you felt your hand was worth the leap to game. West leads the ♣K, asking for a count in the suit. When East indicates an even number of cards in clubs, West cashes the ♣A before exiting with a heart. How do you like your chances for 10 tricks?
Solution
After West cashed his top clubs and got out with a heart, declarer played low from dummy and won the trick in hand to lead the ♠Q, running it when West played low. Declarer continued with the ♠J, which was covered by West’s king and dummy’s ace. jack of trumps, which was covered by West’s king and dummy’s ace. The 4-1 break was a disappointment because the contract no longer depended on just a favorable break in diamonds: It needed West to have at least three hearts and two diamonds.
Declarer continued by cashing the ♥K and ♥Q. When they held, he played the ♦A, ♦K and another diamond. On this occasion, it was West who won the trick and found himself endplayed, with only two trumps and a club remaining in his hand. As a trump exit would have been hopeless, West tried the ♣8. Declarer threw dummy’s last diamond and ruffed this in hand. After leading the ♠6 to West’s 7 and dummy’s 8, declarer claimed his tenth trick with dummy’s master trump.
Note that if East had won the third round of diamonds, with West discarding a club, declarer would have ruffed the forced club exit in hand. This would have neutralized West’s trump holding. It would not have mattered whether West discarded a heart or overruffed, declarer would have been able to avoid a trump loser. The full deal: