Secrets of declarer play : elimination and endplay [part 4]

This is the fourth part of a series of articles. You can find the first three parts on the blog!
To read part 1, click here, for part 2, click here and for part 3 it’s over here. Enjoy your reading!

In our previous studies on the subject, declarer was the absolute master of his destiny and, like Vercingétorix at Alésia, the defense had to lay down its arms at Caesar’s feet. But sometimes a deal resembles more the battle of Gergovia, where the Gaulish army (the defense) is not completely without resources and can, at least, force declarer to “guess”.

In the end, the defense is forced to open up the Spade suit; let’s say West is on lead.
If he leads a small Spade, declarer asks for the 3 from dummy and wins the trick with the King if East inserts an honor. Declarer can then finesse against West, losing only when East had Queen-Jack.

But if West leads an honor? Now, South must guess if it comes from Queen-Jack (in which case he must win in hand and then play small towards the 10) or if West has skillfully played an isolated honor (this time South must win with dummy’s King and then play towards the 9). A full deal as an example:

A full deal as an example :