Dealer North. None Vul.

                                    ♠          K Q 8 7

                                    ♥          A 10 7 6

                                    ♦          A

                                    ♣         10 4 3 2

            ♠          9 5 2                                       ♠          A

            ♥          9                                              ♥          J 5 4

            ♦          K J 5 4 2                                 ♦          10 9 7 6 3

            ♣         A Q 9 8                                   ♣         K 7 6 5

                                    ♠          J 10 6 4 3

                                    ♥          K Q 8 3 2

                                    ♦          Q 8

                                    ♣         J

This hand from Middlesex Plate earned us a big swing as we made 4ª Doubled in one room for +420 and +550 in the other room for making 5¨ Doubled.

How could West have defeated the 4ª contract?.

Well West got off to the best lead of his singleton Heart and although only holding three East returned a Heart at trick three after winning his singleton trump Ace. West was able to ruff. At this point in the hand, West decided to try to cash a Club before putting partner in with the Club ace. This would have worked had declarer started life with more than one Club but this wasn't to be and now declarer wrapped up the remaining tricks losing just two  aces and one ruff.

Now let's rewind. After getting your ruff, in order to get another ruff you will have to assume partner has the Club King or there will not be enough defensive tricks. Also partner has played back his lowest Heart when giving you your ruff indicating that his entry is via the lowest suit (Suit Preference for Clubs). Since partner has already had the sense to honour your lead by giving you a Heart ruff, its now your turn to honour your partner's defence and underlead your Club to get partner in with the Club King so he can give you a second ruff and defeat the contract by one. Even without a a suit preference signal you should realize your only hope of ever getting partner in, is with the Clubs. You can see the singleton Diamond in dummy so Clubs is your only chance.

By playing a low club you, the defence, will now realize 4 tricks by way of 1 Ace, 1 King and 2 Heart ruffs.

You can also watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out. To view this programme you will need  to download htttp://www.haroldschogger.com/bridgevu.setup

  alternatively watch the film www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm

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