bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

xA Q 10 2

uJ 7 6

vK Q J 10 9

wA

WEST EAST

xK 7 6 5 x8

uA Q 2 uK 5 4 3

v4 2 v8 7 6 5

w9 8 7 6 wQ 10 5 2

SOUTH

xJ 9 4 3

u10 9 8

vA 3

wK J 4 3

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1v Pass 1x Pass

4w Pass 4x Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Ace of u

Consider the spade suit in this diagram. It is simple enough, crops up frequently and is often misplayed!

North has a difficult rebid to make and chose a splinter bid, showing a singleton in the suit bid. Taking that action with a singleton ace is debatable at best, since partner is likely to discount a possibly useful king in the suit. It had the additional disadvantage of highlighting the lead for the opponents.

Since the king of hearts was more likely be with North than South, West chose to attack with the ace of hearts. East signaled encouragement with the five and West continued with the queen of hearts and another, so the defenders collected their book on the fly. East exited with a club to dummy’s ace.

Declarer came to hand with the ace of diamonds and correctly led the nine of trumps — leading the jack would force dummy to win the second spade and, as the cards lie, West would have to come to a trump trick. When the nine held, declarer was able to repeat the finesse by leading the jack and then a low spade to the queen, thereby enabling declarer to draw four rounds of trumps and claim the rest of the tricks for the contract.

More interesting would have been for East to return the 13th heart at trick four. If declarer carelessly ruffs in dummy, the contract will fail!

2012 Tribune Media Services