Hi all
May the gods you are loyal to grant you the success you deserve for 2010.
It has been a whirlwind of attention, questions, Dutch treats and jet lag. Man, if I weren’t enjoying myself so much I would need a holiday after this. This deal is from a pairs night at Star. I was sitting West and heard the following auction.
1
21. Inverted
2. Stopper
I led my 5th 
and dummy revealed a promising stiff .
Partner Erik S. wins the Ace of and returns the Jack via the Queen for my … 2. I decided to duck to keep communications intact. Basically the analysis comes down to whether South holds Queen – doubleton, or Queen – third. The latter seemed more likely in my opinion.
Declarer wrapped up ten tricks easily.
For West it’s impossible to see from what holding East has returned the Jack. Maybe you can toy around with “change in tempo”-tactics, unfortunately I’m a too ethical player to adapt to such practices. In a teams match East can offer a helping hand in the defence. Seeing the danger that West might duck the Jack return, East can cash the Ace of first before firing back the Jack, that should stir West’s cup of coffee in the right direction.
Can one stir a cup of coffee in the wrong direction?
Well, my partner defended in exactly the same way. But…
Would your partner pose you with this unsolvable problem holding AJx? I think he can see the ‘duck’ problem you will face in trick two. Therefore, with AJx your partner already would have ducked. Hence, taking the A in trick one, and returning the J should in my opinion show AJTx…
Hmmm, I don’t think partner will play the J from AJx. It looks kind of foolish if partner has K10xxxx. Also I don’t think East should cash the Ace of hearts. That looks pretty silly if declarer has Kx(x) in spades. So there’s no bridgeclue here to get west making the right decision.
Best thing West can do is stop drinking coffee and get to the better stuff.