West led ♦ J and declarer won his ♦ Q and led ♣ Q. East won ♣ K and started to think. Should he return ♦ 8 - partner’s suit - or should he switch to ♥ Q? Eventually he led back partner’s suit. Declarer carefully won ♦ K - preserving ♦ A as a dummy entry. He led ♣ 5 to ♣ 8 and East won ♣ A. East switched to ♥ Q and declarer won ♥ K, crossed to ♦ A and enjoyed ♣ J109. ♥ A and ♠ A brought his trick tally to the required nine.
East thought at the wrong time. As soon as he had won ♣ K, declarer was home whether he returned ♦ 8 or ♥ Q. To defeat the contract East needed to duck ♣ Q. He wins ♣ 5 continuation but declarer needs two further entries to establish dummy’s ♣s and has only one - ♦ A. Declarer is held to only one ♣ trick - ♣ Q - and fails even if he establishes a second ♠ trick.

In effect East had three choices at trick two - to duck ♣ Q, to win and return ♦ 8, or to win and return ♥ Q. It is illogical to rule out one option - ducking ♣ Q - without thinking.

ANDREW’S TIP: Do your thinking about what to lead to the next trick before winning the last trick, not after. Perhaps it is wrong to win the trick at all!