BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable. North deals.
NORTH
x A Q 5 4
u A 5 3
v K Q 9 7 5
w 10
WEST EAST
x K 7 3 x J 10 8 6 2
u J 10 9 6 u Q
v 8 3 2 v J 6
w Q 6 2 w K J 9 4 3
SOUTH
x 9
u K 8 7 4 2
v A 10 4
w A 8 7 5
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1v Pass 1u Pass
1x Pass 2w Pass
2u Pass 3v Pass
4NT Pass 5w Pass
6u Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Jack of u
It had been an uneventful fall at the bridge club for Trump Coup Tommy, and he gave a weekly subsidy to the League for Indigent Bridge Professionals. The first signs of change were the coming of a cold spell and this deal.
By Tommy's standards, the auction was tortuous. Once the double fit in the red suits and control of the black suits were established, Key-Card Blackwood revealed that South held two aces and the king of trumps, North contracted for the heart slam. If trumps were 3-2, the contract was close to being laydown.
Since the auction marked North-South with shortage in the black suits, West decided that it might be a good idea to attack trumps, and led the seemingly safe jack of hearts. Any other suit would have led to a sure set.
West's lead brought a ray of light to Tommy. He called for dummy's ace and, when the queen dropped from East, the master was in control. A club to the ace was followed by a club ruff in dummy. Declarer returned to hand with the ace of diamonds, finessed the queen of spades successfully, and cashed the ace of spades, discarding a club from hand.
A spade was ruffed in hand followed by a club ruff on the table, and the king and queen of diamonds were cashed. When West followed to all these tricks, the end position was ready. With West and South down to nothing but trumps, Tommy led a diamond from the board and ruffed with the seven. West had to overruff with the nine and return a heart from the 10-6 into Tommy's K 8 -- six hearts bid and made.
& copy; 2006 Tribune Media Services