Wednesday, November 16, 2016
BRIDGE
Neither vulnerable, South deals.
NORTH
xA Q 10 8
uK 9 4
vA J 7 3
w10 8
WEST EAST
x7 6 4 2 x9 3
uQ u10 7 6 5 2
vK Q 10 8 4 v6 2
wA 5 4 wQ J 7 6
SOUTH
xK J 5
uA J 8 3
v9 5
wK 9 3 2
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1w 1v 1x Pass
1NT Pass 3NT All pass
Opening lead: King of v
Today’s deal arose in a duplicate game, where overtricks can be worth their weight in gold. That’s just a clichi. Really, how much can an overtrick weigh?
South ducked the opening queen of diamonds lead and West shifted to a spade. South won this in his hand with the king and led a heart to the queen and king. With the queen of diamonds certainly in the West hand and the 10 of hearts seemingly with East, South was up to 10 tricks. Could he find an 11th? Yes he could!
Declarer ran the nine of hearts at this point, successfully finessing for the 10. This was followed by three more spades and a heart to the jack, leaving this position:
NORTH
xVoid
uVoid
vA J 7
w10 8
WEST EAST
xVoid xVoid
uVoid u10
vQ 10 8 v6
wA 5 wQ J 7
SOUTH
xVoid
uA
v9
wK 9 3
On the ace of hearts, West couldn’t defend the position. Another diamond discard would allow three diamond tricks in dummy, after the marked finesse, so West discarded his low club. Reading the cards perfectly, South discarded a low diamond from dummy and then led a low club from his hand. This crashed the now bare ace in the West hand and the king of clubs became the 11th trick. Well played!
2016 Tribune Content Agency