BRIDGE

Neither vulnerable. West deals.
NORTH
x K 5 2
u 9 6 4
v K Q 5 3
w 10 6 4
WEST EAST
x Q 7 6 3 x J 9 8 4
u K Q 5 u 10 7 3
v 10 v 6 2
w A 9 8 7 5 w K J 3 2
SOUTH
x A 10
u A J 8 2
v A J 9 8 7 4
w Q
The bidding:
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
Pass Pass Pass 1v
1NT 2v 3w 3u
Pass 3x Pass 5v
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Ace of w
Finesses are an "iffy" proposition -- sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Wouldn't it be much better if the opponents would lead the suit for you? With that in mind, today's deal deserves close study.
West led the ace of clubs and continued the suit. Declarer ruffed and immediately set about stripping the black suits from both hands. The ace and king of spades were cashed and a spade was ruffed high in the closed hand. Declarer crossed to dummy by overtaking the seven of trumps with the queen and ruffed the remaining club high. Declarer drew the remaining trump with dummy's king and administered the "coup de grace" by leafing the nine of hearts.. East covered with the ten and declarer's jack lost to the queen. (Had East played low, declarer would simply cover whatever card East played, leading to the same situation.)
West was faced with a choice of ways to deliver the contract to South. A heart would be away from the king into declarer's A 8 tenace, and any black-suit card would permit declarer to discard a heart from dummy while ruffing in hand. Either way, declarer would lose only one trick each in hearts and clubs.
With any lead other than a club, the contract would have been defeated. When declarer tries to strip the hand by leading a club, an alert East would win and shift to a heart, breaking up the endplay. The defenders would eventually score two heart tricks.
& copy; 2003, Tribune Media Services