Always There

Playing matchpoints in a mixed but not awful field, I open a 15-17 notrump and quickly find myself in 2

	J9632 10542 Q10 K7

	AK5 AJ7 932 A1093

Declarer	Dummy
1NT	2
2	Pass

The opening lead is the

4, 3rd and lowest. I'd like to get a quick diamond pitch, and if this was from one honor, there's a good chance I can, so I play low from dummy. RHO puts up the

J, and I win. I cross to the

K as LHO follows with the

2, then cross back to the

A. No one drops anything interesting. I'd prefer that LHO doesn't cover the club so that I can pitch both diamonds on clubs and reduce the chance of a trump promotion, so I try the

9. He doesn't cover, but he does follow, so I pitch a diamond. Unfortunately, he didn't cover for a good reason: he didn't have it. RHO looks at this somewhat surprising trick and cashes the

A. Everyone follows, and he continues diamonds. LHO plays the

K, and I ruff in dummy. That

K may be a true card, or it may be from KJ. Let's take stock. LHO has four clubs and probably two or three diamonds. If he has three trumps, then he has three or four hearts. If he has two trumps, he has four or five hearts. RHO didn't seem to consider playing a heart instead of a second diamond. That means either trumps are 4-1 or he has some ugly heart holding, from Qx up to Kxxx. I'm inclined to believe the latter, so I cross back to hand with a high trump and cash the club. LHO, as expected, follows each time. RHO follows to the spade and pitches a diamond on the club without much apparent thought. It seems to me that LHO has the last trump and is either 3334 or 3424. If so, and as long as he has at least one heart honor, I have an overtrick available. Can RHO have both heart honors? He's shown up with the

A and the

QJ. Five more points in hearts makes 12 with no real defects, so LHO has a heart honor, possibly both. The position is currently

	J9 1054 — —

	5 AJ7 9 —

In case LHO has a third diamond, I ruff the diamond in dummy and exit with the last trump. As expected, LHO wins. He exits with a small heart to the queen and my ace. I play another heart and LHO concedes nine tricks.

The whole hand was

	J9632 10542 Q10 K7
Q10x Kxxx Kx xxxx		xx Qx AJxxxx QJx
	AK5 AJ7 932 A1093

As the cards lay, two heart tricks were always there for the taking, but this line would have worked if hearts were 3-3 or if LHO had had both honors.