West led a Club won by Dummy’s Jack.  A Spade was conceded to West’s King, but now the Heart shift was too late.  Leaving the trump Ace at large, Declarer played Clubs and was able to get the Heart loser away in time.  Making 10 tricks.

At the other table, West found a Heart lead, and now Declarer futilely played on trumps and did not have the timing to get rid of the Heart loser on the 13^th Club.  Down one!

That adverse game swing cost the match, and West on the losing team apologized profusely to his team-mates for his unsuccessful Club lead.  “No problem”, they politely replied, “opening leads are tough, it was just a guess.” And, on that note, the losers went home, with West resolving to re-read “Opening Leads 101”.  But West didn’t do anything wrong, who was really responsible for that bad result?

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