Check first

Playing online bridge Wednesday night, I was declarer in 4♠ on this deal (hands rotated):

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

At my table, there were three passes to me (South) and I opened 1NT. My partner, Mette, transferred to spades and made an invitational bid which I accepted. Against 4♠ West led the ♣9. I won the jack and led a low spade. West ducked, I played the ♠J and the contract could no longer be defeated.

Today while looking at the results, I noticed that quite a few pairs defeated 4♠. Many of them led a club, hopped up with the ace of trumps and led a second club. I'm not sure how they knew to do that, and it certainly could have been very wrong.

I did see one pair that had a nice defense although with a different auction. West's online name was Ruth and East was ovrtrx. Here are the four hands rotated to make it easier to follow:

                    ♠ Q 8 6
                    ♥ A J 10
                    ♦ 10 2
                    ♣ A K J 8 4

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

After two passes, West opened 2♦. North doubled and East raised to 3♦. Over that, South jumped to 4♠.

What do you think of West's 2♦ bid? I don't mind it in third seat where just about anything goes. Because of this, there was information exchanged. Watch what happened.

West led the ♣10. Because East-West had bid and raised diamonds, this looked like a singleton. The lead was taken by the ♣A and declarer advanced a low spade. East hopped up with her ♠A, but instead of simply leading a club, she made the thoughtful play of cashing the ♦K. When West discouraged, it was easy now to lead the club for the ruff. Nicely done! West cashed the ♦A and that was down one.

Making 4♠ was worth 6.12 IMPs while setting it was worth 7.15 IMPs for East-West -- a big swing.

There were wacky results all over the place and you can check out the wackiness by clicking here.