bridge

bridge

Neither vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

x7 5 3 2

u7 6 3 2

v8 5 2

w4 3

WEST EAST

xK 9 x10

uQ 10 5 4 uK J

vA K Q J 6 v10 9 7 3

wQ 5 wJ 10 9 8 6 2

SOUTH

xA Q J 8 6 4

uA 9 8

v4

wA K 7

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1w Pass 1v Pass

1x 2v 2x 4v

4x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of v

When you hear bridge players speaking of Berkowitz, they are usually referring to David, of Boca Raton, Fla., a many-time national champion. However, his wife Lisa is a women’s world champion, and her defense on this deal lifted the U.S. to the title some years ago, defeating China in the final.

South’s one club was artificial and forcing and one diamond was negative. The rest of the auction proceeded naturally, and four spades was a reasonable contract.

Sitting West, Lisa started with two rounds of diamonds, declarer ruffing the second. After cashing the ace of trumps in an attempt to drop the king and protect against a club overruff, declarer continued with the ace, king and seven of clubs. West discarded a diamond and declarer ruffed in dummy. A diamond was ruffed in the closed hand and West was thrown on lead with the king of trumps.

The first hurdle was easy to overcome — West exited with a low heart to the king and ace. Declarer exited with a heart and, after some thought, West found the winning defense. She rose with the queen of hearts, swallowing her partner’s jack to keep East off the endplay. The ten of hearts was cashed for the setting trick.

Had West played the ten of hearts, East would have won with the jack and been forced to lead a minor-suit card, yielding a ruff-sluff for the fulfilling trick. The technical name for this play, for obvious reasons, is the Crocodile Coup.

2011 Tribune Media Services