Tip: DO switch to a high (spot) card if you don’t want the suit led back

On our 4 ♥ deal West led ♦ Q. Declarer won ♦ A, crossed to ♦ K (removing the defence’s safe diamond exits) then led ♥ 4 to ♥ Q. East won ♥ A and, because a club switch from ♣ KJ9x around to dummy’s ♣ Q10x would be disastrous if declarer held ♣ A, decided to switch to a spade. But which spade?

Holding ♠ Q, it may appear correct for East to switch to ♠ 2 – leading low for like. But does East really want a spade led back?

At the table East did switch to ♠ 2. West won ♠ A and dutifully returned ♠ 3. Declarer won ♠ K, trumped ♠ 10, then led ♣ 4. He guessed to play dummy’s ♣ 10 (it didn’t matter), East winning cheaply with ♣ J. What could East do now, though? A spade or diamond would allow declarer to trump in one hand and discard a club from the other, so East led ♣ 2. No good either – declarer played ♣ 7 from hand and ran the lead to dummy’s ♣ Q. 10 tricks and game made.

The point is that East does not want a spade return – though he holds ♠ Q he would rather partner switch to a club (the only other alternative). He should have switched to ♠ 9. Now after winning ♠ A, West switches to ♣ 8 and, try as he might, declarer must lose two club tricks: down one.

Note that East would have switched to ♠ 2 with ♠ Q982 if he hadn’t wanted a club return (eg make his clubs ♣ AJ42).

What of declarer’s play? There is a winning line regardless of how the defence plays. Win trick one with ♦ K and immediately lead ♠ 4. West ducks, ♠ K wins and ♠ 7 is led back. West wins ♠ J and switches to ♣ 8 (best) to ♣ 10, ♣ J and ♣ A, but you cross to ♦ A, trump ♠ 10 then lead ♥ 4 to ♥ Q. East wins ♥ A but is end played to lead from ♣ K9 around to ♣ Q3. 10 tricks and game made.