East-West vulnerable. South deals. North S: K Q J 7 H: 10 4 3 D: 9 8 6 5 C: 6 3 West East S: 10 9 4 S: 5 3 2 H: 9 7 5 2 H: 6 D: K Q 10 4 D: A J 7 3 2 C: A 7 C: J 10 9 5 South S: A 8 6 H: A K Q J 8 D: Void C: K Q 8 4 2 The Bidding: South West North East 1H Pass 1S Pass 3C Pass 3H Pass 4D Pass 4H (All Pass) Opening lead: DK This hand presents an interesting problem at matchpoints. While four hearts is the normal contract, and ten tricks should be available with careful play, four spades is the best contract and, in fact, as the cards sit, six spades cannot be defeated. In four hearts, South must trump the opening lead and then lead the king of clubs. He cannot come to ten tricks without knocking out the ace of clubs. West wins and returns another diamond and South finds himself with a 3-3 trump fit. If the outstanding hearts do not divide 3-2 he is going to be wide open in diamonds. He can counter this by trumping the diamond, cashing the club queen and the spade ace. Crossing to dummy with a spade to trump a third diamond, Cashing the ace and king of hearts. Playing a third spade to the dummy to cash the ten of hearts, And then playing the last spade from dummy. West will trump this trick and play a diamond but declarer will come to three diamond ruffs, three trump tricks, three spades and a club. In four spades from the North, East could lead the ace of diamonds. This can be trumped in the South hand with a small spade. The king of clubs is next and the best that West can do is win the ace and play another diamond. This trick is trumped in dummy and the ace of spades is cashed. The closed hand is entered with the ten of hearts. Two more rounds of trump draw all the outstanding spades. If spades were 4-2 there is still a high spade in the closed hand to take care of that as well. At this point, all that will be left in the South had will be the four top hearts which will take the balance of the tricks. Of course, if East selects the singleton heart as the opening lead declarer has a more difficult time coming to twelve tricks but eleven should be a common result.