Today’s deal is from a recent tournament in Riga, Latvia. This was a pairs competition where every trick is crucial. South has not authorised the release of his name.
West, for unknown reasons, chose to lead the king of spades. We cannot imagine any reason for this lead, but perhaps our imagination is lacking. South, of course, believed this lead to be from a short suit, probably a singleton. He won with dummy’s ace and led a heart to his king. He could have cashed the ace of hearts at this point to guarantee 12 tricks. The lucky fall of the queen would give him all 13 tricks. The percentage play in hearts, however, was to finesse for the queen. There was no apparent danger, so South led the nine of clubs to dummy’s king and then led a heart back to his jack. Losing to West’s queen was not a surprise, but South was shocked when East ruffed the spade continuation.
Declarer had been taking what he thought was the best play for 13 tricks and wound up with only 11 tricks for a very poor score. It may be time for us to review our opening-lead strategies. Maybe if West writes a book…
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