~A 2C Opener

 

North
S AQT7
H KQJT
D Q8
C AKJ

West                                                                           East
S 964                                                                          S K2
H A6                                                                           H 852
D AJT2                                                                       D K3
C T987                                                                       C Q65432

South
S J853
H 9743
D 97654
C —
Bidding Commentary
N         E         S         W
2C       P         2D       P
2NT    P         3C        P
3H      All Pass
With 22 HCP, North should open 2C. South, with limited values, should respond 2D. North next bids 2NT, showing 22-24 HCP and a balanced hand. Rather than pass, South should bid 3C (Stayman) and pass any response (here, 3H).

Lead and Defense Commentary:
East leads a heart

Play Commentary:
Even if the spade finesse fails, North should win 3 spade tricks, 3 heart tricks, 2 club tricks and a club ruff for nine tricks. Hoping to eliminate or limit ruffs in either N-S hand, East should lead a trump. West takes the trump A and leads back the suit. South would like to ruff two diamonds in dummy, but East takes the first diamond lead and leads the last outstanding trump, effectively holding N-S to 5 trump tricks.

NOTE: the two hands combined contain only 14 Loser Count; the hand will make 4H with a successful spade finesse and a good trump split. Here, the spade K is offside.