BRIDGE

BRIDGE

Neither vulnerable, North deals

NORTH

xA K 10 4

uA 6 4

vK Q J

w8 4 2

WEST EAST

x5 x8 7 2

uJ 10 uK Q 9 7 3 2

vA 10 3 2 v9 5 4

wK J 9 6 5 3 w10

SOUTH

xQ J 9 6 3

u8 5

v8 7 6

wA Q 7

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1NT 2u 3x Pass

4x All pass

Opening lead: Jack of u

The North and South hands have almost identical distribution. These can be some of the most difficult hands to play, as increasing your trick total by ruffing is usually impossible, and discards on a long suit are not available.

South won the opening heart lead with the ace and drew trumps in three rounds, noting that East followed to all three rounds. Declarer played on diamonds next as West won with his ace. West continued with the 10 of hearts, which East overtook with the queen to shift to the 10 of clubs.

There was no reason to take the club finesse right away. South could still lead up to the queen at some point. Should East have the king, he would still have it later. Declarer rose with his ace of clubs and cashed dummy’s remaining diamond winners, noting with great interest that East followed to all three rounds of diamonds. South now had a perfect count on the hand! He knew that East had started with three spades, six hearts, and three diamonds, therefore a singleton club. Using this information to his best advantage, South led dummy’s remaining heart. Rather than ruffing it, he simply discarded a club from his hand. East won this trick, but with no club remaining, he had to give South a ruff-sluff. Declarer ruffed in dummy while discarding the last club from his hand. Well played!

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