Neither vulnerable. South deals.

Neither vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
A Q 8 5
7 4 2
6 5 3 2
6 3
WEST EAST
7 4 2 6
J 9 5 Q 10 8 6
Q J 10 K 9 8 7 4
A Q 10 9 J 8 7
SOUTH
K J 10 9 3
A K 3
A
K 5 4 2
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1 Pass 2 Pass
4 Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Queen of
We have become brainwashed by some of those maxims that keep cropping up whenever a hand is discussed. South followed one blindly on this deal and paid a heavy price.
North had just enough to raise South's one-spade opening to two spades. With a hand that revalues to 20-21 points, South was not stretching to proceed to game.
West led the queen of diamonds, won in the closed hand. Declarer crossed to dummy with a trump to lead a club, "from weakness up to strength." The king of clubs lost to the ace and a trump came back, East discarding a diamond. Declarer won in dummy and led a club. West won with the nine and returned his last trump. South could ruff a club in dummy but ended up losing three clubs and a heart -- down one.
Once West did not lead a trump, declarer could claim the contract. Declarer could afford to lose two clubs and a heart, and that was easy to manage. After winning the first trick, declarer should have immediately led a club from hand, away from the king. Either defender could win and return a trump, but declarer is a tempo ahead. He wins in dummy and leads a club to the king. Although this loses to the ace and a trump comes back, declarer can still ruff two clubs on the table. The defenders cannot collect more than two club tricks and a heart.
& copy; 2006 Tribune Media Services
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