BRIDGE

Neither vulnerable. East deals.
NORTH
x -J 10 7
u -9 7 6 3
v -A 8
w -A Q 10 5
WEST EAST
x -5 2 x -A K 4
u -K Q 5 2 u -A 10 8 4
v -9 7 3 2 v -Q J 10 5
w -8 6 3 w -7 2
SOUTH
x -Q 9 8 6 3
u -J
v -K 6 4
w -K J 9 4
The bidding:
EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH
1v 1x Dbl 4x
Dbl Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of H
Declarer suffered from a severe case of flying fingers. Instead of taking time before playing to the first trick to consider the possibilities, he played routinely and paid the price.
West's double of South's one-spade overcall was negative, for takeout not penalties. That highlighted probable heart shortness in the South hand, so North made an aggressive raise to four spades, doubled by East.
West led the king of hearts and continued with the queen, declarer ruffing. Seeing only two trump losers to go with the heart trick already conceded, declarer cashed the ace and king of diamonds and ruffed a diamond in dummy. A trump was led to the king and, when East forced declarer to ruff another heart, South's plight dawned on him. If he drew another round of trumps, a heart return would remove his last trump and he would not be able to score the long clubs; he would be defeated at least one trick.
Declarer cannot afford to shorten the table's trumps. Instead, he must treat dummy as the master hand. After ruffing the second heart in hand, declarer must use the ace and king of clubs as entries for two more heart ruffs. Next declarer leads a trump and, no matter how the defender proceeds after winning with a high trump, South is in charge.
East's diamond return is won in the closed hand and another trump is led, forcing out East's remaining high trump. A diamond runs to the king, the last trump is drawn and good clubs score the fulfilling tricks.
& copy; 2004, Tribune Media Services