East-West vulnerable. East deals.

East-West vulnerable. East deals.
NORTH
K 10 6 2
5
A K Q 8 4
8 7 6
WEST EAST
A Q J 4 7 3
6 K Q 10 9 8 4 3
J 7 5 3 2 10
K Q 9 5 4 3
SOUTH
9 8 5
A J 7 2
9 6
A J 10 2
The bidding:
EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH
3 Pass Pass Dbl
Pass 3NT Pass Pass
Pass
Opening lead: Six of
The Rule of Restricted Choice is basically simple. Consider this holding:
NORTH SOUTH
10 9 5 A K 8 5 4
Suppose you have to develop this suit and you have entries in the other suits. You lead the 10 from North, your right-hand opponent follows low and you rise with the king, dropping the queen on your left. Should you play West for a singleton queen or a doubleton queen-jack? The Rule states that with equals, West could play either the queen or jack -- his choice is unrestricted. But if he held a singleton, he has no choice at all -- it is restricted. Therefore, you should play him for a singleton and cross back to the North hand to lead the eight and finesse East for the jack. Here it is in practice.
With East-West vulnerable, South might have elected to defend three hearts doubled since he was almost certain to produce at least three tricks on his own. Still, we can't fault three no trump.
The opening heart lead went to the queen and ace. Declarer made the good play of leading the nine of diamonds to the queen, dropping the 10 from East. A club to the 10 lost to West's queen, and the defender switched to the queen of spades, covered by the king, which won. Declarer returned a spade to the nine. West won with the jack, cashed the ace and exited with a spade to the table's 10.
A club to the jack went to the king, and West returned the seven of diamonds. Employing restricted choice, declarer finessed dummy's eight (see why the nine of diamonds originally was farsighted?) and nine tricks were in the bag.
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.
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