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As South, red on red and Dealer, who can resist opening 3♦? So, on the first hand of the night, that was my call.
West doubled, passed by North, and East had a tough decision to make. The diamond 9 did seem to fill in the diamond suit, but East, a silver life master, decided that the game bonus was too much and bid 3NT, which ended the auction.
On lead as South, I briefly considered the merits of the spade Queen lead, which seems right. But, drawn like a fly to the fire, I could not help but make the critical defensive error of leading my stiff heart.
Not to worry. West and North ducked, and East won the 10.
East now tried a Grue Coup of sorts. After cashing the diamond Ace, trick three was a small diamond. I briefly considered playing low again, but I've seen that play before, so I (technically a mistake) played my diamond 7. (Fortunately, the error did not come back to bite me, but I was sweating later in the hand.)
In with the diamond, Declarer having tossed two spades, now the spade switch seemed right. Declarer won and started working on clubs, with small to the Queen (noting the drop of the Jack), followed by the King (again noting the 4-1 split). First a mini-squeeze, playing the diamond King. This unfortunately left Dummy squeezed, so a heart was pitched. Another diamond was played, and a club pitched from Dummy. Bad luck being squeezed on this hand.
Declarer now had the option of going after clubs or going after hearts. Sure -- the club hook was marked. But, it sure seemed like I must have the heart Ace for my 3♦ call. So, heart to the Jack, losing to my partner's Queen.
My partner, however, had not spotted this problem for Declarer and had pitched hearts on the run of the diamonds. So, the squeeze had worked.
Partner, with nothing better to do, cashed out clubs and put Declarer in Dummy with the spade, and the club 10, carefully preserved, took trick 13. East-West scored up that +600 and proved why sitting for penalty doubles in sequences like these is a bad idea -- get that game bonus.
