Yes - East’s 4♦ bid was unsound. But by sounding confident, his opponents had no idea his playing strength was so feeble. South naturally went on to 4♥ - how could he know that 4♦ would have gone four down?

East had put his head on the block to attract a ♦ lead against a ♥ contract and West duly obliged. His ♦9 opening lead was won by East’s ♦J; East cashed ♦A and continued with ♦K. If declarer had trumped with ♥9, West would have overtrumped with ♥J. But when declarer trumped with ♥Q, West simply discarded and waited to score two trump tricks later. His ♥J had been promoted into the setting trick.

Note that if East had kept quiet, West would surely have led ♣Q. Winning dummy’s ♣K, declarer would play ♠3 to ♠A, ♠7 to ♠J and cash ♠Q, discarding a ♦. His best play would then be to lead ♠K and discard his second ♦. He would lose just two trump tricks.

ANDREW’S TIP: Play bridge with confidence - especially when making a frisky bid!