bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xA J 8 4

u7 5 3 2

vA J

w7 6 4

WEST EAST

x9 6 x7 5

uA K Q 10 uJ 9 4

v10 8 4 3 vQ 7 6 5

wK J 9 w10 5 3 2

SOUTH

xK Q 10 3 2

u8 6

vK 9 2

wA Q 8

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1x Dbl 2NT Pass

4x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead King of u

The average player relies upon a successful finesse in clubs or diamonds to make or break the contract. The expert will twist and turn to avoid taking either finesse if at all possible. Consider this deal.

North’s jump to two no trump over the takeout double was conventional, showing four-card support for partner’s major suit and invitational values. South had an easy acceptance.

West started with three rounds of hearts, declarer ruffing the third. The game hinged on declarer losing no more than one trick in the minors, and a winning finesse in either minor would be the 10th trick. When trumps divided evenly, South got home by finding a way to avoid both, based on the strong likelihood that West held four hearts for his takeout double.

After drawing trumps in two rounds, declarer cashed the ace and king of diamonds, then ruffed a diamond in dummy. Now the last heart was led and, when East discarded a club, so did declarer!

West won a most unexpected trick in hearts, but did not relish having the lead. A club would be into declarer’s major tenace while a diamond would allow declarer to ruff in dummy while discarding the queen of clubs from hand. Either way all declarer lost was three heart tricks!

When first you saw the hand, did you reach that conclusion?

2011 Tribune Media Services