The Tyger by Foxymoron

A hand last night at the Woodberry reminded me of a poem by Blake. The following illustration is in the British Museum:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

It was the symmetry of the two plausible plays on the following hand that caught my eye:

Our auction was (Pass)-1D-(2C)-2D-(3C)-3D-All Pass. West led two top clubs and switched to a spade. Now there are two symmetrical lines as you can only afford one trump loser as you can never avoid a heart loser. The first is to win in dummy, and lead a low diamond to the jack. The second is to win in South and lead the jack of diamonds. The former works when East has a doubleton honour, the latter when West has a doubleton honour. Both are just under 24%, but only one of these is given in the Dictionary of Suit Combinations. My future title Complete Card Combinations remedies that.

My partner unluckily chose the latter line, getting below average. It is the right line at matchpoints as it only goes one off when East has D KQ9x. On this occasion, running the jack was the winning line, which makes the contract whether or not West covers.