Suhas Vaidya, the effervescent vice-president of Maharashtra Bridge Association played this hand in a local tournament. The simplicity of the play is so startling I was stunned to hear about it. Try to play the hand, single dummy.

S	-	7	5	2
H	-	A	K
D	-	K	Q	3
C	-	K	Q	J	10	4

S	-	A	K	J	10	6
H	-	5	2
D	-	J	10	6	4
C	-	7	3

Suhas was south. West dealt & opened 2 hearts & Suhas reached 4 spades.West led the 2 of diamonds. East won with Ace & returned the 9 0f diamonds. West ruffed & backed the Queen of hearts. Take over from here.

This hand is an excellent specimen of discovery play & counting. You have lost 2 tricks & club Ace is a certain loser. So how do you avoid losing a trick to spade Queen? Does west have it doubleton or triple ton?. Or does east have it triple ton?. Should you play for a drop or a finesse?

Suhas found a neat way of finding the spade Queen. At the 4th trick he played a small spade to his King. The Queen did not appear. Then he played a small club to dummy’s King, which won. Are you surprised? The club Ace is marked in the west hand. Remember what east returned while giving west a diamond ruff? The 9 of diamonds. Had he been holding the club Ace, he would have backed the 5 of diamonds to give partner a ruff & had west not been looking at the club Ace he would have nevertheless backed a club. Now on the assumption that west is holding club Ace & QJ to 6 hearts ( It is safe to assume that west would have opened 3 hearts with 7 hearts & club Ace along with a singleton diamond) can you make certain of the contract?

Suhas continued with the club Queen. West won & returned a heart. Now Suhas counted the hands of the defenders. West had 6 hearts, 1 diamond & 2 clubs. If he had no more clubs the contract cannot be made because he has 4 spades to Queen ( The Queen did not appear from east hand ) So west had to have at least one more club. Therefore Suhas continued with the club Jack. Had east ruffed or discarded, he could have claimed the contract as the spade Queen would come down next, because west is marked with a 2-6-1-4 hand. Had east ruffed, the spade Queen was coming down, & had he discarded, Suhas could have finessed the spade Queen.

If east follows to the 3rd club, again you get a complete count of the hand. West is marked with a 3-6-1-3 hand. He has ruffed a diamond & followed to a spade. Ergo the trump Queen is again coming down from either hand. Suhas realized at the 3rd trick that there was no danger in cashing a 3rd club.

Since it would have taken more time to explain the intricacies of the play, Suhas did not claim but continued to play on. West had a 3-6-1-3 hand. When Suhas cashed the spade King & the Queen came down from west hand, he gave Suhas a suspicious look & pushed his chair a foot back.