BRIDGE

BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable, West deals

NORTH

xA J 10 4

uA K 9 8 4

v8

wA K Q

WEST EAST

xK 9 6 xQ 8 5

u5 uQ 6 2

vA K Q J 7 4 v10 9 5

wJ 10 8 w9 6 5 2

SOUTH

x7 3 2

uJ 10 7 3

v6 3 2

w7 4 3

The bidding:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1v Dbl Pass 1u

2v 4u All pass

Opening lead: Ace of v

The club’s Saturday night duplicate was heating up when Hard Luck Louie found himself declarer on this deal. He had an anxious moment waiting to see the dummy, but he liked what he saw. West started with two rounds of diamonds.

Louie ruffed the second diamond in dummy and cashed the ace and king of hearts, learning that he had a trump loser. The only chance now was for West to have started with both missing spade honors, so he exited with dummy’s jack of spades. West won with his king and continued with a third round of diamonds, ruffed in dummy. Louie cashed the ace, king, and queen of clubs before leading dummy’s last heart to East’s queen. East got out with his last club. Louie ruffed and led a spade to dummy’s 10. When that lost to the queen, the contract was down one. ”I hate my life,” said Louie.

Lucky Larry also declared four hearts. The defense also started with two rounds of diamonds, but Larry foresaw the need to take two spade finesses. In order to create an extra entry to his hand, Larry ruffed the second diamond with dummy’s ace of hearts. He followed with a low heart to his seven. East ducked, but it would not have helped him to rise with the queen. A spade to the jack lost to the queen and East led a third diamond, ruffed in dummy. Larry cashed the king of hearts, cashed the three high clubs, and led dummy’s last heart to East’s queen. Larry was able to ruff East’s club exit and lead a spade to dummy’s jack, scoring up 10 tricks and his contract!

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