BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

x7 5 2

u6 2

vA 8 3

wA K J 4 2

WEST EAST

xQ xJ 10 9 4

uK Q J 7 3 u10 9 5

vK J 9 6 4 2 v10

w10 wQ 9 8 7 5

SOUTH

xA K 8 6 3

uA 8 4

vQ 7 5

w6 3

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1w Pass 1x 2NT

Pass 3u 3x 4u

4x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of u

Most players tend to react to a bad break with instant panic. More productive is to try to find a counter. Consider this deal.

The auction should alert North-South to the possibility of bad breaks. West’s two no trump is a takeout for the red suits so declarer must be prepared for unusual distribution.

Declarer allowed West to win the first trick with the king of hearts, and the defender shifted to the ten of clubs. Declarer won with dummy’s king and cashed the king and ace of trumps to learn of the bad break. Now there was only one way to get home — declarer had to single in his trumps by ruffing.

South crossed to dummy with the ace of clubs and was delighted when West failed to follow. A club was ruffed in the closed hand, the ace of hearts was cashed and a heart ruff provided the entry for a second club ruff. Back to dummy with the ace of diamonds and a third club was ruffed as East followed suit helplessly. In all, declarer scored four black-suit winners, the two red aces, three club ruffs in hand and a heart ruff in dummy for a total of 10 tricks. At the end, East’s two trump winners and West’s two red-suit winners duplicate each other.

2009 Tribune Media Services