BRIDGE

BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable, South deals

NORTH

xK 9 5 3

uQ 4

vA J 10 6 5

w6 5

WEST EAST

xQ xJ 10 7

uJ 10 9 7 uK 8 6 5 2

v9 7 3 v4 2

wA Q 8 3 2 w10 9 7

SOUTH

xA 8 6 4 2

uA 3

vK Q 8

wK J 4

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1NT Pass 2w Pass

2x Pass 4x All pass

Opening lead: Jack of u

South, perhaps running late for dinner, covered the opening jack of hearts lead with dummy’s queen and then captured East’s king with the ace. This was followed by the ace of spades and a spade to the king, discovering that there was a certain trump loser. Declarer now started on the diamonds, hoping to discard a heart by the time East could ruff. No luck. East ruffed the third diamond and shifted to a club. There was no winning guess in clubs, so West took two club tricks and a heart to defeat the contract.

Had South not been in such a rush, he might have recognized that the key to this deal was to keep East off lead, if possible. A good start would be to allow the jack of hearts lead to hold the first trick without playing dummy’s queen. Declarer can then win the next heart and lead a low spade from his hand, catering to the possibility that West started with the singleton queen. When West plays the queen, South simply allows it to win the trick. That’s all there is to it. South can win any return, draw the outstanding trumps, and run the diamonds. He can discard two clubs from his hand and concede one club to the opponents, making four!

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