Do not overlook a long suit, even a weak one

What happened?

The opening lead of ♥ 5 (fourth from the top in his longest and strongest suit) went to East’s ♥ Q and declarer correctly ducked his ♥ A. He ducked East’s ♥ 10 continuation and won the third round with ♥ A. Though it was not particularly relevant here, it was good technique to keep back his ♥ A until the third round as it exhausted one opponent (East) of all their cards of the suit. Blinded by the riches in spades, he then cashed his ♠ A, crossed to dummy’s ♠ K and returned to his ♠ Q. He cashed his ♣ AKQ bringing his trick total to seven, and then looked around. There wasn’t much hope of any more tricks but he tried ♦ 2. West rose with♦ K, cashed ♥ KJ, then led ♦ 10 to East’s ♦ A. Down two.

What should have happened?

Dummy’s club suit may look emaciated, but it is the key to success. Provided the opposing clubs split 3–2 (as they usually will), declarer’s ♣ AKQ will remove all the missing clubs and the way will be clear for declarer to cross to dummy (in spades so he must must not play the spades out first) to enjoy the two remaining length
winners in clubs. There are seven top tricks: three spades, one heart, no diamonds and three clubs. Aim to score the two extra tricks with dummy’s long clubs. The correct line is as follows: win the third round of hearts with ♥ A, cash ♣ AKQ (observing the 3–2 split), lead ♠ 9 to dummy’s ♠ 10, cash ♣ 75 (these are the two extra tricks) discarding ♦ 32, then cash ♠ K and lead to ♠ A. Nine tricks and contract made.

Tip: Do not overlook a long suit, even a weak one