BRIDGE



Neither vulnerable. West deals.
NORTH
x Q J 8 7 3
u K 10 7
v K 6 2
w J 8
WEST EAST
x A K 4 x 6 5 2
u A Q J 6 u 4 3 2
v 4 v Q 9 7 3
w 10 9 6 5 2 w K 7 3
SOUTH
x 10 9
u 9 8 5
v A J 10 8 5
w A Q 4
The bidding:
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1w 1x Pass 2v
2u Pass 3w 3v
Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Ten of w
Trump Coup Tommy's peculiar talent of changing from a card pusher to a master technician when trumps break badly is usually evident at game contracts or higher. Once in a while, however, a partscore turns up which allows him to demonstrate this ability to work magic.
With the high cards distributed more or less evenly, the three-level was more than high enough. West's bidding likely marked North with some length in diamonds, so Tommy's rebid of a weakish five-card suit is not as dangerous as it might appear at first glance.
West led the ten of clubs, covered by the jack, king and ace. Warned by the auction of a possible bad trump split, Tommy led the ten of spades, losing to the king. To protect against the possibility of declarer discarding hearts on good spades, West shifted to the ace and queen of hearts. Tommy won the second heart with dummy's king and continued with a spade to the nine and ace. West cashed the jack of hearts and continued with the 13th heart.
Tommy ruffed with the table's six of diamonds and, since overruffing would compromise his trump holding, East chose to discard a spade instead. Tommy countered by underruffing with the five!
The rest was entertaining, Tommy-style. A spade was led from dummy. East still refused to ruff and Tommy, fully in control, pitched the club loser. The ten of diamonds was finessed, and dummy was entered with the king of trumps. Another spade from the table left East without resource. Should he ruff, Tommy would overruff, draw the last trump and score the queen of clubs for the fulfilling trick. Should he discard instead, Tommy would part with the queen of clubs and score the last two tricks with the J-A of diamonds.
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

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