BRIDGE

BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable, East deals

NORTH

xK 10 9

uA 9 6 4

vA K 7 5

w5 4

WEST EAST

x8 6 2 x4

u2 uK Q J 10 8

vJ 9 4 vQ 10 8 6 3

wK J 10 9 8 2 wA Q

SOUTH

xA Q J 7 5 3

u7 5 3

v2

w7 6 3

The bidding:

EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH

1u 2x- Pass 4x

All pass

-Pre-emptive

Opening lead: Two of u

North’s jump to game was a reasonable shot. A tenth trick might well come from a club ruff in his hand.

South won the opening heart lead with dummy’s ace, cashed the ace and king of diamonds to discard a heart, and then led a club from dummy. East rose with his ace of clubs and cashed the king of hearts as West discarded the jack of diamonds. East continued with the queen of hearts, which was ruffed by South with the jack of spades. Another club from South went to East’s queen, and East continued with the jack of hearts. South ruffed this with the queen of spades, ruffed his last club in dummy, and then cashed dummy’s king and 10 of spades. In this two-card ending, with South holding the ace-seven of trumps, he tried to ruff a diamond with the seven to get back to his hand but was over-ruffed by West with the eight for the setting trick.

Declarer was certainly unlucky, finding West with three trumps to the eight and only three diamonds. Still, he could have done better. Can you spot how?

Instead of leading a club from dummy at trick four, South should have ruffed a diamond with a low trump. That would have put South one trick ahead. The ending would have left South with just the ace of trumps. Even a fine player like West wouldn’t have been able to over-ruff that.

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