[1eyedjack]

Scoring: IMP

W...N...E...S
P...P...P...1N (15-17)
P...P...P

Lead ♦K

Plan the defence

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Seeing all 4 hands it seems that declarer has just 6 tricks and it would be criminal to let him make any more.

Declarer won trick 1 and tested the Hearts with 2 rounds, then exited with Diamond.

I (West) made the first mistake by cashing all of the Diamonds, putting East under pressure. If I just keep my last Diamond for use when I get in with Club King East is under no pressure and the contract is doomed.

East ended up unguarding the Hearts on the last Diamond, and I compounded the problem by switching to Spades rather than Clubs.

I was playing in a pickup game and had not got around to discussing defensive signals, but when I thought of it after the hand I thought that a simple suit preference signal by East is not easy. If I have the Spade King rather than Club King then East wants to encourage in Spades. If I have the actual hand then East wants to encourage in Clubs.

Perhaps the clue to the defence is East's decision to unguard the Hearts. Given that I can now tell that the Hearts are established for the declarer, we need to defeat the contract in tops, and that is only possible if partner has the Club Ace, which I should therefore assume that partner (East) holds. I suppose there is a possibility that declarer only had 2 Hearts, but I would hope that East would give count on the first two rounds.

Perhaps the order in which I cash my established Diamonds should be a suit preference signal of my own, which would then guide East to providing a suit pref discard on the basis of that information. Problem with that is that partner may have to signal with a discard before I get a chance to clarify the order of encashment.

Not sure if there is anything else about that hand?

[pclayton]

Yes, suit preference certainly applies when you play diamonds. You don't have any choice on the 1st three, but on tricks 4 and 5, play the 2 and the 5 in that order.

Similarly, your pard has the opportunity for a few signals. On the hearts (assuming standard carding), your pard can follow with the 4 and 5. The 4 is count, and the 5 is SP.

If East reads the ♦2 correctly, East can make a very loud signal for clubs. Cashing 7 tricks should not be tough.

There are other layouts of the South and East hands where cashing the diamonds is the wrong move, and that may be the case here.

[1eyedjack]

Probably should get it right even in a vacuum.

West needs to hold precisely the Spade King for East to want a Spade switch. West has room for one of the Spade Ace King and Club King. Only one third of those combinations indicates a Spade switch is desirable. Likewise, although South can hold both AQ of clubs he needs to hold both of those cards for a Club switch by West to be wrong.