BRIDGE

Both vulnerable. North deals.
NORTH
x K 7
u A K 4
v Q 8 7 6
w A 5 3 2
WEST EAST
x J 10 9 5 2 x Void
u J 2 u Q 10 7 6 3
v K J 5 3 v 10 9 4 2
w K 9 w J 10 7 4
SOUTH
x A Q 8 6 4 3
u 9 8 5
v A
w Q 8 6
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1NT Pass 3x Pass
3NT Pass 4x Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Jack of u
It was time for the annual interclub championship and, since Trump Coup Tommy had contributed to winning the event in the previous two years, he was reluctantly invited to be a member of the defending team. He got his team off to a good start on the second board of the match.
With his unbalanced hand, Tommy was reluctant to play three no trump. Besides, he could not remember when last he had put a goodish six-card major suit on the table as dummy. Besides, how could there be a trump coup without trumps? As it happened, the bad spade break would have doomed three no trump.
The same contract was reached at the other table. At both tables the opening lead was the jack of hearts, taken with the king. At the other table, declarer cashed the king of spades and the 5-0 break now proved unmanageable. Try it.
At trick two Tommy led a trump to the ace, and was delighted when East showed out. Tommy continued by cashing the ace of diamonds, then used the king of trumps as the entry for a diamond ruff. After cashing the queen of trumps, the table's two aces were used as entries to ruff two more diamonds for 10 tricks.
Note that had West held one fewer diamond and one more club, permitting him to overruff the fourth diamond, the contract would still have succeeded. West would have to lead a club from the king, and the queen of clubs would have scored the fulfilling trick.
& copy; 2004, Tribune Media Services
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