bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

x10 7 5

u9 7 4 2

vA 9 5

w10 7 6

WEST EAST

xA 9 8 x6 4 3 2

u5 u8 6 3

vJ 10 8 7 4 vK 6 2

w8 4 3 2 wK Q J

SOUTH

xK Q J

uA K Q J 10

vQ 3

wA 9 5

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

2w Pass 2v Pass

2u Pass 3u Pass

4u Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Jack of v

Counting your tricks is well and good. Making sure you can take them is even more important. Consider this deal from a club rubber bridge game.

Despite the eight-card heart fit, with two balanced hands three no trump is often the better contract. Here, however, the lure of 150 for honors was too much to resist, and declarer elected to play four hearts.

West led the jack of diamonds. Declarer ducked in dummy, East won with the king and returned a diamond, declarer winning the queen. Unfortunately, there was no entry to dummy’s ace of diamonds, so that card withered on the vine as declarer ended up with nine tricks. Could South have done better?

The opening lead marks West for the ten of diamonds. All declarer needs to get home is to unblock the queen of diamonds under the king at trick one! As the cards lie, declarer now has two diamond tricks by finessing the nine and need only force out the ace of spades to come to 10 tricks.

2012 Tribune Media Services