Wanted: a pinch more of care …

Having misplayed this hand on the penultimate board before dinner break, I stewed over dinner at my failure to have taken a bit extra care and landed my contract from the first qualifying session of the Wernher Open Pairs, at Toronto NABCs.

Dealer: 1-N Vul: None	North ♠ AKJT54 ♥ 4 ♦ A982 ♣ A3
West ♠ Q8 ♥ J97652 ♦ T5 ♣ KJ2		East ♠ — ♥ A ♦ KJ643 ♣ QT98764
	South ♠ 97632 ♥ KQT83 ♦ Q7 ♣ 5

East led a club, which I won with the ace.  With a sure heart loser, I need to find pitches for my three small diamonds.  I am expecting to find the ♥A onside, but that provides only two pitches.  Looked to me as though I need the ♥J to fall in time so that the ♥T becomes available for a third pitch of diamonds.

I briefly considered ruffing a club in dummy, but had this general feeling that I would need the club ruff entry for a later dummy entry.

Accordingly, I played one round of trumps at Trick 2 and a second at Trick 3.  Now I led a heart toward dummy and East rose with the ace and played a club back which I ruffed in dummy.  When East showed out on the ♥K, I was destined for down one.

But I had erred by not taking the care to count the entries needed to dummy.  Had I done so, I would have realized that I need only two entries to dummy: one to reach the ♥KQ for two diamond pitches and to ruff the fourth round of hearts, and a second to, hopefully, reach the long heart for a third, and slam-going, diamond pitch.  So, without even figuring out why taking an early club ruff in dummy in necessary — but rather taking the club ruff on general principles of elimination play after having counted that I need only two entries to dummy –, I should have ruffed a small club before leading a heart.  Some sequence such as ♣A, ♠A, club ruff, ♠K, and a heart would have endplayed East.  East can avoid the endplay only by leading the ♥A at Trick 1.

(Another blogger also published this hand — where she was in 4♠ but made a twelfth trick on the line suggested here –, but since it appears that she has since removed the entry, I thought I would post here).