When this deal was played in the 2025 Bermuda Bowl quarterfinals, most Norths raised preemptively to three hearts even though a simple raise was an option. This prompted South to push on to five hearts at favorable vulnerability, though in fact four spades was fated to go two down today.
On a spade lead, the declarers in five hearts doubled knocked out one of East’s red aces at trick two, and back came a club to South’s ace. (Arguably, a spade continuation was better here.) Worth noting, though, is that the size of East’s club was critical. East was soon back in with his other ace for a club continuation, and the spotlight turned to the declarers.
In the England-USA1 match, both declarers misguessed, finessing into West’s Q-x doubleton. In those cases, East had switched to the club six and followed up with the seven. The Danish declarer got the club three switch and also misguessed. However, both Michal Klukowski and Ola Rimstedt made the hand by rising with the club king. At those tables, East had switched to a high club and continued with a low one, portraying their club weakness. This was enough to convince the declarers that the club queen was offside.
That was not all. After drawing trumps, the declarers still had to guess the diamonds — whether to finesse the diamond nine or cash the queen and then take a ruffing finesse through West. Having made it this far, they were not about to fall at the final hurdle — Rimstedt and Klukowski brought home their contracts.