If you look at all four hands, it might seem impossible to make four spades. Declarer must lose two clubs and a heart trick, and there appears to be no way to avoid losing a diamond also.

This is because if South draws three rounds of trump, he can ruff only one diamond in dummy; if he draws only two rounds of trump and attempts to ruff two diamonds in dummy, West scores his jack of trump on the fourth round of diamonds.

But one of the nice things about bridge is that you can sometimes accomplish the “impossible,” which is exactly what South did on this deal.

West led the K-A-Q of clubs, declarer ruffing the third one. South then drew three rounds of trump and led a diamond to dummy’s ace, producing this position:

Declarer now made the key play of the nine of clubs from dummy, planning to ruff. The effect of this seemingly pointless play was that East found himself hard-pressed for a discard. If he discarded a heart, South would make the contract by playing the ace and another heart to establish an extra heart trick, while if he let go a diamond, South would play a diamond to the king and ruff a diamond in dummy to set up an extra diamond trick. Either way, declarer was bound to score the game-going trick.

Tomorrow >> Famous Hand.

— Steve Becker