bridge

June 16, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

North-South vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

x10 6 3

uA Q 2

vA Q J 9 4

w10 5

WEST EAST

xA K 7 5 xQ J 9 2

u9 4 3 u7 6

v7 3 v10 6 5

wA 7 4 3 wQ J 8 6

SOUTH

x8 4

uK J 10 8 5

vK 8 2

wK 9 2

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1v Pass 1u Dbl

2u 2x 3v 3x

4u Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of x

When you start an echo with a high card, it can be from a doubleton or from any four-card holding. However, when partner leads an ace or a king, starting an echo with the queen guarantees possession of the jack. This hand shows why.

After a straightforward auction, North-South reached four hearts. The double fit just made it a reasonable contract and, with careless defense, declarer would have coasted home. (East-West might have bought some insurance with four spades, which would have cost at most 100 points on this distribution.)

West led the king of spades and it did not take East long to realize that the only chance to defeat the contract was for declarer to hold the king of clubs and for partner to hold the ace.

Under the king of spades East followed with the queen. It was now routine for West to underlead the ace of spades at tricks two. East won with the knave and shifted to the queen of clubs, and the defense quickly collected two club tricks — down one.

2010 Tribune Media Services