bridge

September 23, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

bridge

Both vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

x10 4 2

uA K 8 7 3

v8 6 4

wA 5

WEST EAST

xVoid xJ 9 8 5

uJ 6 5 2 u10 9 4

vJ 7 5 2 v3

wQ J 10 9 4 wK 8 6 3 2

SOUTH

xA K Q 7 6 3

vA K Q 10 9

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1u Pass 2x Pass

3x Pass 4v Pass

4x Pass 6x Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Queen of w

When declaring a hand, don’t let a powerhouse lull you into a false sense of security. The distributional reefs are full of mighty hands wrecked by careless declarers.

As is the case with most rubber bridge players, South took a pessimistic view of his holding — optimists would have launched into Blackwood and bid a grand slam after learning that his partner held two aces and a king. That was South’s first reaction after seeing dummy. The second was to find the best way to secure 12 tricks!

Declarer won the opening lead with dummy’s ace, and the only side-suit entry to dummy’s hearts was gone, and then ruffed a club. When West showed out on the first trump, marking East with a sure trump trick, declarer was relieved but not complacent — the contract would still be in jeopardy should diamonds break badly. Declarer found a way to guard against that.

The queen of hearts was cashed and the ace and king of diamonds were played. Thanks to declarer’s thoughtful play at trick two, East was helpless. To ruff would leave himself endplayed. Whichever suit East would choose as an exit would give declarer an entry to dummy for two diamond discard on the hearts. Not ruffing was no better. South would continue with the queen of diamonds, and East would be in the same position. East chose to discard, but South continued by ruffing a diamond in dummy, setting up a long card in the suit. The defenders were held to one trump trick. Try it.

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