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Opening lead: K

East should play the 6 of diamonds at trick one.

When this hand was played many years ago in a
duplicate game, East played the 4 of diamonds.
Norman Kay, declarer, played the 8. West wasn't
sure what the diamond distribution was, but he
considered the likelihood that South held six or
seven spades to the king-queen. In that case, a
club shift might be necessary, before dummy's red
tricks were set up. So he shifted to a club. Kay won
the king, led a spade to the ace, took a diamond
discard on the A and played another trump,
conceding the ace of hearts to make his game.

East, who thinks he has nothing to do on this hand,
has a lot to do: Tell partner to cash another diamond
trick! East should encourage with his second-to-
highest diamond spot (and then follow next time
with the 9). West should realize that partner would
not encourage diamonds if he held the king of clubs
behind the ace and wanted a shift to clubs.

For more about this kind of defensive
thinking, consider taking the:

Switch in Time bridge course #190
Click here for more information.