Overlooked

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Bidding the “other” major after Stayman to show a fit and slam interest is a common tool for today’s experts. North-South looked good in the bidding but South dropped the ball in the play. He won the opening heart lead in dummy and led a spade to his king. When West showed out, he tried to cash two more hearts to discard a club from dummy, planning to give up a club and ruff a club. East ruffed the third heart and led a club to West’s ace for down one.

South had an alternate line of play that is often overlooked – a dummy reversal. After West’s discard on the first trump, the chance of a 6-2 heart split became greater than usual. South should have cashed the king of diamonds, led a diamond to the ace, and ruffed a diamond with the queen of spades. Both opponents following suit to three rounds of diamonds would make this line a sure thing. A low spade to dummy would be followed by another diamond ruff, this time with the jack. South could then draw all the trumps and concede a club, knowing that the opponents would not be able to cash a diamond. Had diamonds split 5-2, South would have to decide whether to continue the reversal and hope the opponent with the ace of clubs was out of diamonds, or lead a high club immediately to set up his club trick.

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