Both vulnerable. South deals.

Both vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
A J 6
9 8 4
A Q 6 2
7 5 2
WEST EAST
? ? 10 7 5
K Q 7 6 3 J 10 5
9 4 3 10 8
Q 10 6 3 K J 9 8
SOUTH
K 9 4 3 2
A 2
K J 7 5
A 4
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1 Pass 3 Pass
4 Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of
Sometimes right can seem wrong. What is the safe way to land your four-spade contract after the lead of the king of hearts?
After a one-spade opening bid by South, North's jump raise was invitational, in theory showing 11-12 points and four-card support, but the alternative of bidding two diamonds and then raising spades with a balanced hand was distasteful. With 15 points in high cards, nearly all prime, South had an easy raise to game.
West led the king of hearts, setting up a heart trick for the defense. Declarer still had a sure club loser, so the problem was to hold his trump losers to one. If spades were 3-2 there was no problem at all. Can anything be done to protect against a 4-1 split?
Suppose declarer leads a trump to the jack at trick two and that loses to the queen. If her majesty was singleton, declarer now has a second spade loser. If, instead, declarer cashes the king and West has a low singleton, there are still two trump losers. Can you find a way out of this dilemma?
At trick two declarer should cash the ace of spades and, if nothing good happens, return to hand to lead another trump toward the jack. If West follows low, declarer inserts the jack and, even if it loses to the queen, it means trump are 3-2. If West shows out, insert the jack, losing to the queen. But now declarer can get back to dummy to lead a spade through East and finesse the nine if East follows low. No matter how the trumps are distributed unless there is a 5-0 distribution, the contract is safe.
This 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; 2006, Tribune Media Services
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