On this month’s hand, East lead the Jack of hearts and East went up with the Ace of hearts and returned the Queen of hearts. Declarer ducked this trick and won the third heart. Then Declarer took the diamond finesse. This lost but East did not have any more hearts to return and Declarer made his contract with an overtrick. Everyone congratulated South on his nice holdup play and moved on to the next deal. No one noticed that East could have made the holdup play nearly impossible if he had played the Queen of hearts on the first trick instead of the Ace. What is poor declarer to do? If he ducks, he could lose 5 heart tricks when West has the AJxxx of hearts. He’d feel very foolish if he did that and it turns out the diamond finesse was working. In all likelihood he’d win the first trick with the King and take the diamond finesse. East would win, cash the Ace of hearts and lead his third heart to West’s Jack and the defense would take 5 tricks (one diamond and 4 hearts). How is East to know that the Queen is a better play. Considering South’s 1NT opening he knows his partner does not have the King of hearts. Dummy has 11 HCP; he has 13 HCP, and South has at least 15 HCP. That is at least 39 HCP so at most partner has a Jack. If it is the Jack of hearts then the only entry to partner’s hand is a heart. If he plays the Ace he should know declarer will be smart enough to hold up until the third round but if he plays the Queen he causes a problem. It can’t cost anything and in all likelihood it will stop declarer from holding up.
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K72
T7
AQT65
Q86