The hold-up play is used when you hope to thwart the tempo of the opponents by refusing to take your ace on the first round.
A play very seldom used, it is highly effective and assumes only a small risk. It should be used more often by the so called "experts".
West led the ♥K, North following with the ♥4 and East with the ♥9. South, knowing West lacked entries due to his bid, figured a hold up with a favorable distribution might kill East/West's entries and followed with the ♥2.
West continued with ♥Q, and this time South took the ♥A. East now had no way of reaching West's hearts.
North and South switched to clubs and then diamonds. When East took the ♦A he could not reach his partner's hand to discard a loser.
With East forced to ruff hearts on trick 9, he was endplayed and his side could only win 3 spades, 1 heart and 1 diamond.
Had South not held up the ♥A, East could have led a heart to his partner. Hearts by West fulfills their bid.
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