Dealer South
- Q2
- 875
- K1075
- Q983
- A1084
- A1094
- QJ9
- 54
- K75
- K62
- 83
- AKJ72
- J963
- QJ3
- A642
- 106
After the inverted minor suit raise, West bid his hearts, and East, expecting the contract to be 3NT, pretended to have diamonds. That gave North an awkward lead problem - what's your choice?
The hand was played in 3NT in 15 out of 16 tables in the Tollemache qualifier, often on the auction 1NT (upgrading to 12) - 3NT. North usually led a diamond, and the defence cleared the suit. Declarer then took a club finesse and set up his ninth trick in clubs.
But at my table, Jonathan tried an imaginative 2. That looks bad - declarer now has four spade tricks, which with four tricks from clubs gives him an overtrick. But declarer didn't know that. He thought, took the club finesse successfully, and thought again. Both defenders had followed upwards in clubs, suggesting odd count, so he cashed the top clubs. No luck, South threw 2, ostensibly discouraging, and declarer let go a heart. Now he cleared the clubs, South discarding 3 and declarer 4. North switched to 8 to the jack and ace, and declarer, looking for a ninth trick, decided to lead 10, hoping to pin the 9. No luck there, so, too late, he led a diamond off dummy. North won and played another heart, and South claimed one off.
