Good move. Anything else and declarer can make the hand. I am not saying that he will make it, but at least he can.
Here is the original layout.
J74
A2
A654
KQ54
AQ2
6
Q753
JT98
J9
QT73
JT98
A762
KT9853
K64
K82
3
it's clear enough that you cannot throw a
since declarer can then pitch a
from his han on the high club and then play
K,
to the A, ruff a
to establish a
in dummy to pitch a
on.
It might be less clear that pitching a
is wrong, but it is. Of course if declarer had two clubs, giving partner only three, then pitching a club would be wrong because declarer could play the K and then ruff to establish clubs. But even with partner holding four clubs the club pitch has the potential to go wrong. If declarer ruffs a club then partner will be the only one who can still guard clubs. From the beginning you are the only one who can guard diamonds, and the entries are right for a double squeeze centered on hearts.
Declarer ruffs a club to hand and then cashes his last two spades tossing two diamonds from dummy, then plays A and a small
to the board. The NS hands are now:
A2
Q5
K64
8
Because of the club pitch, if you had done that, you would have only one club left. But that forces your pard to hold onto both of his so he can no longer be guarding hearts. He never could guard diamonds, so you have to be guarding diamonds. This means that you hold three hearts and a diamond. Declarer now leads the
K and you choose whether to establish declarer's
or his third
.
So yes, you toss two hearts.
But you are not yet out of the woods. Now partner has to hold on to his three hearts. But he also must hold clubs, since if he pitches clubs then you are subject to a
-
squeeze. But there is a difference. The hearts are positioned better for the defense than the diamonds were. Say declarer again ruffs a club and cashes his remaining trump, throwing diamonds.
A2
A6
Q5
K64
K82
Pard must be holding on to three hearts. If he has tossed a club then declarer can play
K and
to the A squeezing you in the minors. so we assume he held onto both clubs. So we assume pard holds three hearts, one diamond and two clubs. If declarer plays
K and !d to the A, it is now safe for pard to toss a club. Declarer's threats against you are the
8 and the
5, but neither has an entry in its own suit so you can manage. If, instead, he plays
K and
to the A, pard will follow nd you give up your
guard. Declarer can now play the
K but this doesn't work the way it did before because he has to pitch before pard does.
I think all of this is right, it seems right, but it would not be the first time I was wrong. As mentioned, it is a complex hand. Yes the winning line is for declarer to play small from the board at T1 . But 3 out of four declarer's covered the J, and 2 out those three made it anyway. A very interesting hand.
