That’s right, after winning the
opening Diamond lead, East must force Declarer to ruff. A ruff in the
long hand does not add to Declarer’s trick total, but it does threaten her trump
control. So, at Trick 2, East shifts to a low Heart. West wins that and
fires back another Heart. Then the third round of Hearts does in Declarer.
Declarer must ruff that in her hand, but now has fewer trumps than West.
Goodbye trump control, hello down one!
Declarer can count herself a
little bit unlucky if she goes down on this deal. The defense had to find the
right plan, and the ♥J
had to be with East, and the E-W trumps had to be 4-2 (if they had been
3-3 then Declarer could have withstood the ruff in her hand).
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