Today’s deal is from a team competition. The auction was the same at both tables. North bid four diamonds to give partner the choice of which major he wanted to play in, in case one major was longer than the other. The defense at both tables started with East winning the first two tricks in diamonds. There was no attractive shift from the East hand, but he had to lead something. At one table, East shifted to the crafty queen of hearts. South, a wily veteran, did not think that East would have led a heart from the queen-jack, so he won the trick in hand with his king. He led the ace of spades and another spade. West won with his king as South unblocked the queen in dummy. South won the trump continuation, drew the last trump, and led a heart. The appearance of the jack was followed by a quick claim. At the other table, East did not want to break the heart suit. A low club to the king and ace would allow South to shed one heart on the ace of clubs and then take a ruffing finesse against the queen of clubs, building two more club winners for heart discards. East countered this neatly by shifting to the queen of clubs. There was now no way for declarer to avoid two more losers and the contract drifted down one. Note that North would have done better to pick the major himself. His king of diamonds would be protected on the opening lead and he surely would have taken 10 tricks in either major.

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