West led the
♦A,
then the ♦K
which was ruffed by Declarer. With one Ace already lost, and the ♠A to be lost
later, Declarer could not afford to lose a trump trick. Given the 5-0 break,
avoiding a trump loser might seem impossible, but watch what happened! After
ruffing the Diamond at Trick 2, Declarer lost to the ♠A, won the Spade return,
and ran the ♥T.
The good news was that this held the trick and, when West showed out, that
(surprisingly) wasn’t really bad news at all!
Next, a Spade was ruffed, and
three Clubs were cashed, ending in Dummy. Here was the end position (West was
merely a spectator at this point):
Dummy
♠ 64
♥
A
♦
T
East
♥
Q743
Declarer
♥
KJ9
♣ 6
Dummy led a Diamond and East now
had to suffer the ignominy of (a) being forced to ruff that in front of
Declarer; then (b) under-ruffing when Dummy ruffed a Club; and finally (c) at
Trick 12, falling victim to a Trump Coup, being obliged to ruff with his Q7 in
front of Declarer’s KJ! It really was most unsporting of Declarer to play the
hand so well.