South was happy to see the queen of clubs lead from West. Assuming West also held the jack of clubs, South would have 10 tricks if he could just hold his trump suit to one loser. It wasn’t going to be that easy.
South won the opening club lead in hand with the king and led a low spade to dummy’s ace, noting the fall of the king from East. One line of play was to lead a spade to his queen and then a diamond to dummy’s queen. This would succeed if West held either the king of diamonds or the jack of clubs. Just before starting on that plan, South saw a line of play that was even better.
Leaving trumps alone for the moment, South led a low heart from dummy, won by East with the 10. East could not lead either minor, so he continued with the ace of hearts. South ruffed and led a club. West could have ruffed, but that would cost him his natural trump trick, so he discarded a heart. South won with dummy’s ace and continued with the 10 of clubs. East won with the jack and led another heart, ruffed by South.
South led his last club. West could discard or ruff, but South had his contract either way. Beautifully played!
