Today’s deal is from a recent tournament in Europe. The given auction is a little vague, but several pairs reached six diamonds, possibly after separate auctions. A club slam might look better but note that a club slam followed by a diamond rough will fail quickly.
What would you do against a West hand with six diamonds? Many players led the ace of spades. Declarer had no trouble from there, ruffing to dummy and laying out the ace of diamonds. If he needed an entry in the hand to finish trumps, the jack of clubs was the main entry. The contract also made easily on the lead of hearts. Many West players smartly led spades lower than their ace. Declarer could have made the slam by discarding to dummy, but he naturally ruffed and lost the slam. West’s ability to hold the ace of trumps was crucial to the defense.
Only one West player, Karol Lohay of Slovakia, found the killing lead with the five of clubs. Leading a singleton may seem foolish when there is no prospect that partner will gain the lead. The club ruff would be impossible. The lead would eliminate declarer’s jack of clubs entry before he was ready to use it. Lohay ducked the first two trumps, won the third, and led the ace of spades. Declarer ruffed in dummy, but couldn’t reach his hand to draw the last trump. Nice lead!
