bridge

June 22, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xK 10 7 5

uK 2

vQ 7 4

wA Q 3 2

WEST EAST

xVoid xQ J 9

uJ 8 6 5 4 uA Q 9 3

vJ 10 6 3 v8 5 2

wJ 9 7 6 wK 8 4

SOUTH

xA 8 6 4 3 2

u10 7

vA K 9

w10 5

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1x Pass 4x Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Five of u

On a good day, North-South wrap up 12 tricks in quick time — the ace of hearts is onside, the king of clubs can be finessed successfully and trumps break 2-1, so declarer loses only one heart trick. Obviously, Tuesday is not a good day!

Against four spades, reached in one round of bidding, West led a fourth-best heart. Declarer rose with dummy’s king, losing to the ace. East cashed the queen of hearts and then shifted to a diamond. Declarer was unaware of fortune’s vicissitudes until he won with king of diamonds and cashed the ace of trumps, only to discover he had a trump loser as well. Suddenly a laydown game depended on avoiding the loss of a club trick.

Declarer was up to the task. He drew another round of trumps, cashed two more diamond tricks and then exited with a trump, throwing East on lead. East had a choice of ways to commit suicide. A heart would allow declarer to ruff on the table while discarding a club from hand; a club would be into dummy’s major tenace. Either way, declarer held his losses to two hearts and a trump.

See, bridge is an easy game after all!

2010 Tribune Media Services