bridge

April 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

x7 6 4 3

uK 9 4 3

vA 8

wA 4 3

WEST EAST

x5 xJ 10 9 8

uJ 8 uQ 10 7 6 5

vQ J 10 5 3 v9 7 6

w10 8 7 6 5 wJ

SOUTH

xA K Q 2

uA 2

vK 4 2

wK Q 9 2

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

2NT Pass 3w Pass

3x Pass 5x Pass

6x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Queen of v

There is no need to panic when trumps break badly. Often, careful handling of your assets can overcome bad luck.

The interesting bid in the auction is North’s leap to five spades. Since North did not start a cue-bidding sequence or ask for aces, the bid promised first- or second-round control of all side suits and inquired about South’s trump-suit quality for slam purposes. It could hardly have been better.

Declarer’s first good play was to win the opening lead in dummy, to pave the way for a diamond ruff. The ace and king of trumps were cashed and, when West showed up with only one trump, South’s careful play at trick one paid a huge dividend. Declarer cashed the king of diamonds, ruffed a diamond on the table, cashed the ace of clubs and continued the suit. Since East could not ruff profitably, the defender discarded a heart. Declarer won in hand with the king, returned to dummy with the king of hearts and led another club.

Once again East was forced to discard, so declarer won with the queen and ruffed his remaining club with dummy’s last trump. Whether or not East chose to overruff, one spade trick was all the defenders could collect.

Observe the importance of ruffing a diamond early in the play. Had declarer failed to take that precaution, East would have discarded a diamond on the second round of clubs, overruffed dummy and returned a trump, stranding declarer with a club loser.

2010 Tribune Media Services