BRIDGE

Both vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x Q J 2
u 7 6 5 4
v K 5 4
w K Q J
WEST EAST
x 8 6 4 x 7 5
u A K 8 3 u Q J 10 9
v Q 10 7 v J 9 8 6
w 7 6 2 w 8 5 4
SOUTH
x A K 10 9 3
u 2
v A 3 2
w A 10 9 3
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1x Pass 1NT Pass
2w Pass 4x Pass
4NT Pass 5w Pass
6x Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of u
North-South bid well to get to six spades. Unfortunately, South chose the second-best line and paid the price.
North's one-no-trump response was forcing and the jump to four spades showed a hand that was good enough to jump to game originally but had only three-card support.
West led the king of hearts, and declarer could not have hoped for a better dummy. He ruffed the heart continuation, drew two rounds of trumps and cashed the king, queen and ace of clubs. Had clubs broken 4-2 and had the defender with the long clubs also held three spades, declarer would have been home. One of dummy's diamonds would have been discarded on the fourth club and a diamond ruff in dummy would have been the fulfilling trick. That was not the case -- down one.
Once declarer discovered trumps were 3-2, he could have claimed with a dummy reversal. Declarer ruffs a second heart in hand, crosses to a high club and ruffs a third heart with the king of spades. After crossing to the table with the king of diamonds, declarer gets rid of his losing diamond on the jack of spades, while drawing the last trump and claims the rest of the tricks with winning clubs.
& copy; 2006 Tribune Media Services Inc.
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