BRIDGE

Neither vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x 10 6 5 3
u 4
v K 10 5
w A K Q 10 8
WEST EAST
x A K 8 x J 9 4
u K 6 u Q 8 5 3
v J 9 6 2 v 8 7 3
w 7 6 4 3 w 9 5 2
SOUTH
x Q 7 2
u A J 10 9 7 2
v A Q 4
w J
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1u Pass 2w Pass
2u Pass 2NT Pass
4u Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of x
Follow the bidding and play of this deal, then decide: Did anyone err? If so, who was the culprit?
North had a difficult rebid to make. It is never pleasant to rebid no trump with a singleton in partner's suit, but to bid two spades with such a shoddy suit and minimum hand might give the impression of greater strength, so North chose what might well be the lesser of evils.
West led the king of spades and, with the threat of discards on clubs looming, continued with the ace and another, declarer winning. Obviously, declarer had to hold his trump losers to one, and that would be impossible if the suit were 3-3 unless East started with specifically K Q x. There was a chance, however, of succeeding with a 4-2 split if the honors were divided and if East held the trump length.
Declarer overtook the jack of clubs with the queen in dummy and ruffed a club. Since declarer needed to shorten his hearts to the same length as East, he led a low diamond. West played the six and declarer finessed dummy's ten!
When that held, another club was ruffed and the ace and queen of diamonds were played, declarer winning the last diamond with the king in dummy. When a fourth club was led, East, down to nothing but trumps, was forced to trump it. South overruffed and exited with the ten of hearts. If West won the trick, he would have to lead into declarer's trump tenace. If East won the trump, on the forced heart return declarer would rise with the ace to drop the king and score the jack for the fulfilling trick.
Was anyone at fault here?
Well as South handled his assets, he could have been defeated. When declarer leads a low diamond up to dummy, West must insert the jack. Now declarer has only one entry to the table and the contract must be set one trick. Try it!
XThis column is written by Tannah Hirsch and Omar Sharif. For information about Charles Goren's newsletter for bridge players, call (800) 788-1225 or write Goren Bridge Letter, P.O. Box 4410, Chicago, Ill. 60680.
& copy; 2004, Tribune Media Services