Both vulnerable. South deals.

Both vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
K J 5
Q 8 5
7 5 2
A J 4 3
WEST EAST
Q 8 2 A 10 4 3
J 10 7 4 9 3 2
K 10 4 8 6 3
9 5 2 K 7 6
SOUTH
9 7 6
A K 6
A Q J 9
Q 10 8
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1NT Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Four of
Every card has a tale to tell. Understand them and they can lead you to the right path.
There was no problem to the auction. South had a maximum no-trump opening and North, with a balanced 11, had a clear raise to game, a contract that should have been comfortable enough.
West led the four of hearts to the five, nine and king. East placed West with only a four-card suit since he held both cards lower than the four. From East's perspective, even if West held the ace of hearts, and there was no certainty of that, the heart suit would yield at most two tricks, and it was unlikely that, in that event, the minor suits would produce two more tricks to set the contract together with the spade trick the defenders could take. When South ran the queen of clubs at trick two, East won with the king and took stock.
After some thought East came up with a winning combination. If West held the queen of spades and a diamond winner, the spade suit could be established for enough tricks to defeat the contract. At trick three East shifted to a low spade, and West's queen lost to the king. Declarer could count only eight tricks and the obvious place to look for a ninth was in diamonds. Unfortunately, West held the king and, on winning it, reverted to a spade through the J 5. Whether declarer played high or low, East would take three spade tricks for a one-trick set.
This column is written by Tannah Hirsch and Omar Sharif. For information about Charles Goren's newsletter for bridge players, call (800) 788-1225 or write Goren Bridge Letter, P.O. Box 4410, Chicago, Ill. 60680. Send e-mail to gorenbridge@aol.com.
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