BRIDGE

BRIDGE

Both vulnerable. North deals.

NORTH

xA J 7

uK

vK 10 9 8 4 3

wK 8 6

WEST EAST

x6 4 xQ 10 9 2

uQ J 8 5 2 u7 6 4

v5 2 vA J 7 6

wQ 10 9 2 wJ 4

SOUTH

xK 8 5 3

uA 10 9 3

vQ

wA 7 5 3

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1vPass 1u Pass

2v Pass 3NT Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Five of u

Be careful of those spot cards. All too often key plays are hidden when all cards below the rank of a ten are represented by an ‘x’.

The auction was straightforward. Since North’s two- diamond rebid had denied four spades, South saw no point in fiddling about, so he bid three notrump on the second round. Unfortunately, South’s play was not up to his bidding.

West could see no better lead than declarer’s suit, and dummy’s king of hearts won the first trick. A diamond to the queen won and, since declarer probably needed three more entries to dummy to set up and run the diamonds, South tried a spade to the jack. That lost to East’s queen and, since nothing good happened in any suit and the defense did not err, declarer could come to no more than seven tricks.

South failed to realize what golden assets the 10 9 8 of diamonds were. As long as the suit broke no worse than 4-2, the contract could not be defeated.

After winning the king of hearts, declarer should lead the king of diamonds at trick two! East can hold up, but declarer simply continues with a high diamond. East can win with the jack, but there are two entries to dummy, the ace of spades and the king of clubs, to set up and run the suit. At worst, declarer will score two tricks each in spades, hearts and clubs had four in diamonds, for 10 overall.

2013 Tribune Media Services