BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable. North deals.
NORTH
x 3 2
u K 10 8
v K J 10 8 7 5
w A Q
WEST EAST
x Q x K 10 9 8 7 5
u Q 9 6 5 2 u J 4
v 6 4 3 v A Q
w J 7 4 2 w 10 9 6
SOUTH
x A J 6 4
u A 7 3
v 9 2
w K 8 5 3
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1v 1x 2NT Pass
3NT Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Queen of x
Don't expect others to do your work for you. Sometimes it is just beyond their power to do anything.
The auction was straightforward. South's hand was close to a three-no-trump jump over the one-spade overcall, especially since the jack of spades was worth its weight in gold and might have tipped the scale in favor of aggressive action. North saw no point to rebidding diamonds -- three no trump was the obvious contract.
West led the queen of spades and East signaled enthusiastically with the 10. Unfortunately, West could not continue a spade and shifted to a club. With entries to hand at a premium, declarer led a diamond from the table. East won with the queen and led the king of spades to force out the ace. Declarer continued with a diamond to East's ace but, since spades were still stopped, declarer had the rest of the tricks.
East slipped badly at trick one -- he should have overtaken the queen of spades with the king. Now, a holdup of the ace would be futile since East could simply continue a spade to force out one stopper and, on gaining the lead with a diamond, force out the remaining spade stopper while still controlling the diamond suit. The defenders cannot be stopped from scoring four spades and two diamonds.
& copy; 2005 Tribune Media Services