Big mouth

Two of my best friends showed me this deal they played at the local bridge club this past weekend (low cards are approximate where immaterial):

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

West opened 1♥ and Richard (North) bid 3♥, asking for a heart stopper. Mary (South) bid 3NT, ending the auction.

West led the ♦3 -- a sneak attack! The 5 was played from dummy, East played the 9 and Mary won the jack. She advanced the ♦8 at trick two, covered with the 10 and won with the ace.

Declarer now began to run clubs. West leaned over to show his hand to the dummy and said, "I get the last three tricks." You're not really supposed to say things like this, but it was certainly true that East's hand was irrelevant, so West wasn't doing anything to help him -- in fact, he now drew a roadmap for South.

This was the position with one club to cash:

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

When the last club was played, South discarded a low heart, but what was West to do? If he discarded a diamond, both of dummy's diamonds would be good. If he discarded the ♠A, dummy's king would be high. So, he discarded the ♥Q. It was easy now for Mary to play a major suit, endplaying West. At trick 12, he had to lead from the ♦Q 4 to dummy's ♦K 6 -- making five.

There are two points of interest. The first is that the hand plays itself. Mary didn't have to count West's hand. She had only to keep an eye on the two major-suit aces and the diamond suit. Also, notice that she discarded the blocking ♦7 on the run of the clubs. That simplified things in that she didn't have to worry about what to save in her hand.

I do give South one slight charge. She could have saved the ♦K 5 in the dummy (instead of K-6). It's always more satisfying to win the 4 with the 5 for maximum style points.