BRIDGE

BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable, South deals

NORTH

xA 5

uK J 9 8 3

vK 6 3

w6 4 3

WEST EAST

x6 2 x8 7 3

u2 uQ 10 7 6 5

vQ J 10 4 2 v9 5

wK Q J 10 5 w9 8 7

SOUTH

xK Q J 10 9 4

uA 4

vA 8 7

wA 2

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1x 2NT- Dbl 3w

3v Pass 3u Pass

3x Pass 4x Pass

4NT Pass 5v Pass

6x All pass

-Both minors, at least 5-5

Opening lead: King of w

The Unusual No Trump convention has been popular among tournament players for over 40 years. It can be an effective competitive tool, but it will occasionally give declarer a road map to the play of the hand.

Dummy was a little disappointing. The 10 of hearts rather than the nine and the slam would be cold. This hand would require work. South captured the opening club lead in his hand with the ace, cashed the king of spades, and crossed to dummy with the ace of spades. West, who was known to be at least 5-5 in the minors, had followed suit to both spades. He could hold at most one heart.

Taking advantage of the knowledge gained so far, declarer led dummy’s jack of hearts with the intention of running it should East play low. This would lose if West’s unknown card was the outstanding trump or the singleton queen of hearts. It would succeed if West held any heart but the queen, or if West held a six-card minor, which was a possibility. East chose to cover the heart jack with the queen, so South won with the ace and drew East’s last trump. He crossed to dummy with the king of hearts and led the nine of hearts to ruff out East’s 10. Another trip to dummy with the king of diamonds allowed South to discard one of his minor suit losers on the eight of hearts. One trick was conceded to the opponents and South claimed the rest.

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