bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. West deals.

NORTH

xA J 10 6 3

uA 8 6 3

vJ 5

w6 2

WEST EAST

x8 5 xK Q 9 7 2

uK 4 u5 2

vK Q 10 9 v6 4 3

wA Q 8 4 3 wJ 10 9

SOUTH

x4

uQ J 10 9 7

vA 8 7 2

wK 7 5

The bidding:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1v 1x Pass 2u

Pass 3u Pass 4u

Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of v

The secret to some hands is simply to delay the inevitable. West was left twisting in the wind on this deal.

With two minor suits and a hand not strong enough for a reverse, West elected to open in the shorter but higher-ranking minor, to provide for an easy rebid. This probably had no effect on the auction and, with West marked for most of the missing strength, North-South reached a reasonable four-heart game.

The opening lead of the king of diamonds was won in the closed hand with the ace and, in case something good would happen, declarer continued with a spade to the ace and ruffed a spade high. Next came the queen of hearts, covered by the king and ace, and another spade was ruffed high. Once it was evident that the spades could not be established, declarer drew the remaining trumps, heaving a sigh of relief when the suit broke evenly. Declarer now exited with a diamond.

Left with nothing but minor-suit cards, West cashed the queen of diamonds and continued with the ten. Had declarer ruffed, the defenders would have scored a total of four tricks in the minor suits since only two trumps remained on the table. But declarer had another idea. Instead of ruffing, declarer discarded two clubs from dummy on the diamonds as the defenders completed their book. That left West endplayed. Two clubs were ruffed in dummy to bring declarer’s trick total to 10.

2011 Tribune Media Services