Neither vulnerable. South deals.

Neither vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xJ 8 6

u10 7 4 2

vK Q J 5

wA K

WEST EAST

x10 3 2 xK 7 5

uK J 9 8 6 uQ 5 3

v10 3 2 v4

w9 8 wQ 7 6 5 4 3

SOUTH

xA Q 9 4

uA

vA 9 8 7 6

wJ 10 2

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1v Pass 1u Pass

1x Pass 2w Dbl

Pass Pass 3v Pass

3x Pass 4w Pass

4uPass 5v Pass

6v Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Nine of w

Some knowledge of the percentages is a sine qua non of good play. Consider this deal from the World Championships some years ago.

Sitting North-South for the United States were Lew Stansby and Chip Martel. Stansby’s two clubs was fourth-suit forcing and, once diamonds were agreed, a cue-bidding sequence soon led to the diamond slam.

West led a club, and when dummy appeared, Martel saw that 12 tricks could be claimed if trumps were 2-2. However, odds against that were almost 2-to-1, so he looked around for a better line. A dummy reversal presented itself.

After winning the club lead, declarer crossed to the ace of hearts, returned to dummy with the king of diamonds and ruffed a heart. A low spade to the jack lost to the king. The club return was taken with dummy’s remaining honor and another heart was ruffed, followed by a diamond to the queen to ruff the remaining heart.

Declarer’s remaining club was led and West was helpless. If he ruffed, dummy would overruff and declarer could claim the rest of the tricks. However, discarding was no better. Declarer ruffed low in dummy, drew the last trump and claimed the last two tricks with the ace and queen of spades.

2009 Tribune Media Services