A better plan

Being a member of the International Bridge Press Association has its perks. Each month the IBPA newsletter has some deals by Australian Tim Bourke that are interesting. Here's one:

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

       West   North   East   South
                      2♠    Pass
       Pass   Dbl     Pass   3♥
       Pass   6♥      All Pass

North-South were playing lebensohl in this situation, so South's 3♥ bid showed values. North hoped his partner had nothing wasted in spades and blasted to slam. Sometimes you can't intelligently find out what you need to know. At least this approach kept the defenders in the dark -- sometimes that's worth a trick.

West led the ♠2, an obvious singleton. What would you do?

One line is to hope for a doubleton ♥10. If so, declarer can arranged to ruff two clubs high in the dummy and use his 9 to draw the last trump.

Do you see a better plan?

At the table, declarer won the ♠A and drew three rounds of trumps. Next, he played four rounds of diamonds, discarding two spades from his hand. West was in with the fourth round, and had only clubs left. That return allowed South to win the ♣J.

Five trump tricks (including a spade ruff in the South hand), one spade, three diamonds and three clubs added up to 12 tricks.