Mistakes and bad guesses are a normal part of Spades. Have no shame at all about accepting your opponents' generous gifts. Soon it will be your turn to play Santa.

The players on this deal bid their cards to the limit, as duplicate players must always do. A normal result would be a make for both sides.

A10986 Q QJ6 AK106 743 K53 A10432 J9 K2 A10942 K9 8432 QJ5 J876 875 Q75 The bidding: West North East South 2 5 3 2 North led the A

North took his A for the first trick and East noted his partner's 9. North shifted to his singleton heart, which East pounced on so he could lead a second round of clubs. North took the K.

North switched to the Q and the opponents took over. West won the ace, led to his partner's K, and trumped a club. A diamond was trumped by East with the 2, and the East/West team had made their 5-bid. East's heart return was trumped by North with the 6. Now North was on lead in the following position:

A1098 -- -- 10 74 3 43 -- K 1092 -- 8 QJ5 87 -- --

North/South could have won the rest if North had calmly laid down the A. But muttering something about having read someone's book, North led a low spade. This was a costly mistake^*. East won the K and played his last club. When East declined to cut, West scored his 7 for the setting trick.

^*East and West had each played a spade. Since neither of them rated to have begun with spade length, the lead of the A was indicated.