A Curious Club Suit

By: Larry Cohen

A Curious Club Suit

My friend David Berkowitz played this deal at Jourdans Bridge Club in Boca Raton, Florida:

Vul: N-S
Dlr: West
 43
 KQ94
 10642
 A102
 
 87
 A32
 QJ9875
 65
  KJ10965
 85
 3
 Q987
  AQ2
 J1076
 AK
 KJ43
 

West opened 2, East responded 2 (not forcing) and David as South ended up in 3NT.

West led a spade, won by declarer.

He knocked out the heart ace and that meant he had the following sure winners:

2 spades, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs. That's 9 tricks, so it was just a matter of overtricks.

What do you think of the club suit?

Assuming declarer plays East for the queen, he can take 3 tricks (lead the ace, then finesse). Can he get 4 club tricks and make many overtricks?

It looks impossible. When declarer wins the A and leads the 10, East will cover, of course. If declarer doesn't lead dummy's 10, East still gets a club trick.

But, look what happened. When West won his A, he continued spades. Declarer won and cashed the red suits to leave:

Vul: N-S
Dlr: West
--
--
10 6
A 10 2
--
--
Q J 9
6 5
K
--
--
Q 9 8 7
2
--
--
K J 4 3
What a curious ending. East had to keep all four clubs (else the suit would run). So, David threw East in with the spade. East had to lead a club and voila! -- 4 club tricks for declarer.

Plus 660 was a top board.

Note -- West could have broken up this ending by playing a club when he was in.