Good declarers are always looking for ways to mask their intentions. They want to make it as difficult as possible for the defenders to find the winning defence if there is one.
In today’s deal, from a team competition some years ago, declarer did not want to lose the lead to East. East would lead a low club and declarer did not want to guess the club position. In fact, the club position was not guessable in today’s deal so losing the lead to East would lead to defeat.
At one table, the declarer won the opening diamond lead with dummy’s ace, ruffed a diamond, and led a trump to dummy’s ace, drawing trumps. He then cashed the ace of spades and led a low spade. East knew that his partner held the queen, as declarer would not have played this way holding the queen. East ducked and West won with the queen. Hopelessly endplayed, West cashed the ace of clubs and declarer claimed the balance.
At the other table, declarer cashed the ace of hearts before ruffing a diamond. He then led a low spade from his hand, perhaps intending to also play the ace and another spade.
West inserted his queen, however, and South ducked in dummy, delighted to lose the trick to West. East rose to the occasion by overtaking the queen with the king and shifting to a club. Down one! Why did one defender shine while the other dropped the ball? Who knows?
