BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable. West deals.
NORTH
x A K J 10
u Q J
v A K Q 2
w 6 5 3
WEST EAST
x 2 x 7 6 4
u A K 10 9 5 3 u 4
v 10 7 4 v J 9 6 5 3
w A Q 8 w 10 9 7 2
SOUTH
x Q 9 8 5 3
u 8 7 6 2
v 8
w K J 4
The bidding:
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1u Dbl Pass 1x
2u 3x Pass 4x
Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of u
Londoners claim that there are people walking the Embankment shoeless for the sin of trumping partner's ace. There are almost as many on this side of the Atlantic suffering the same fate for failing to do so.
Note North's jump to three spades on the second round. Since North would pass with a minimum takeout double and bid again with an intermediate hand, the jump in spades must show a hand almost good enough to bid game on its own. South had adequate values, including distributional assets, to proceed to game.
West led the king of hearts and continued with the ace. It was time for East to take stock. Obviously, the defenders were due only two heart tricks because dummy could not be overruffed on the third round. Two tricks were still needed to defeat the contract, and it was unlikely that diamonds would produce one of them.
The setting tricks, therefore, had to come from clubs, and those tricks had to be taken in a hurry, since there was a possibility that the table's diamonds could be used for club discards. To prevent that, East ruffed partner's ace of hearts and shifted to a club. West scored the queen and ace for a one-trick set before declarer even had a chance to get going. Without this defense, declarer would jettison two clubs on the high diamonds and lose only two hearts and one club to land his game.
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