Neither side vulnerable. North deals. North S: 10 6 5 H: K Q 9 7 D: A K 2 C: A 9 4 West East S: K J 3 S: A Q 9 8 7 4 2 H: 8 6 5 2 H: 4 3 D: Q 7 D: J 10 5 4 C: Q 10 6 3 C: Void South S: Void H: A J 10 D: 9 8 6 3 C: K J 8 7 5 2 The Bidding: North East South West 1NT 2S 6C (All Pass) Opening lead: S3 Thanks to Jeff Alexander of Mentor, Ohio for this hand that he observed at a local duplicate game. Take a moment and see if you can figure out a line of play that will succeed against best defense. Declarer ruffs the spade lead and plays a small club to the ace. East shows out and the hand becomes a real problem. The ace of hearts is cashed and the jack is overtaken with the king in dummy. The six of spades is ruffed and the ten of hearts is overtaken with the queen in dummy. East shows out on this trick and that is very good news. The ten of spades is ruffed and a diamond is led to the ace. The nine of hearts is cashed and declarer discards a small diamond. This is the end position: North S: Void H: Void D: 2 C: 9 4 West East S: Void S: Q 9 H: Void H: Void D: Void D: J C: Q 10 6 C: Void South S: Void H: Void D: 9 C: K J Declarer leads the two of diamonds from dummy. East plays the jack and declarer plays the nine. West must ruff and then lead from the Q-10 into declarer's K-J. Notice that West had to follow to every trick and never had a chance to shorten his trump holding and thus avoid the end play. Or course, at the table our declarer did not eliminate the last spade and went down one, but the contract could have been made and it is good to look at hands like these so that you can deal with them when they come up.