Good, but not good enough

Doub Doub, of West Hartford CT, and Adam Waldavsky, of New York City, won the NABC+ Fast Open Pairs in Las Vegas. This was board 5 from the second final session (hands rotated):

                     ♠ Q 4
                     ♥ A J 10 2
                     ♦ Q 8 7 4
                     ♣ 6 5 3
♠ 10 8 5                              ♠ J 7 6 3
♥ 8 6                                 ♥ K Q 7 4
♦ 10 3                                ♦ A 6 5 2
♣ A Q 10 9 4 2                        ♣ 7
                    ♠ A K 9 2
                    ♥ 9 5 3
                    ♦ K J 9
                    ♣ K J 8

The auction was Pass by West and North. East opened 1♦ and South, Wildavsky, overcalled 1NT. West bid 2NT which showed clubs (I'm guessing he or she plays the HELLO convention). North, Doub, doubled and East dutifully bid 3♣. The auction proceded Pass, Pass and Doub bid 3NT. 3♣ doubled would have been better for North--South (for an easy 500), but neither side held four trumps and East--West escaped.

West led the ♦10 which was won by the ace as declarer dropped the jack. East shifted to a club and declarer again played a jack, losing to the queen. If West cashed his A♣, that would set up the king and declarer could then squeeze East in the majors for nine tricks. West, after some thought, continued diamonds. This was better than a club, but not good enough -- West needed to shift to a heart instead.

Declarer won the diamond with the king, played two more diamonds (discarding a club from his hand) and then four rounds of spades. East was endplayed. He tried a low heart which was won by the 10 in dummy. Declarer led the ♥2 from dummy towards his 9 and East was endplayed again.

Making plus 400 was worth 66 matchpoints on a 77 top.

Deals such as this are why I love bridge. It really is a beautiful game.