BRIDGE

BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable, North deals

NORTH

xQ J 9 2

uQ 7

vA 5

wK 9 8 7 3

WEST EAST

x7 x5 3

u6 4 2 uK J 10 9 3

vJ 10 7 4 3 v8 2

wJ 10 5 4 wA Q 6 2

SOUTH

xA K 10 8 6 4

uA 8 5

vK Q 9 6

wVoid

The bidding:

NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST

1w 1u 1x Pass

2x Pass 3v Pass

4x Pass 5w Pass

5v Pass 7x All pass

Opening lead: Seven of x

North had a minimum opener, but he liked his fourth trump and his diamond holding when South bid three diamonds, so he jumped to game. There were no brakes on South when he learned that North not only liked his hand, but also held the ace of diamonds.

The dummy was a disappointment. The ace of clubs rather than the king would have made this an easy one. South won the trump opening lead with dummy’s queen and paused to consider his line of play. One possibility was to try to cash three diamonds without drawing the last trump. He could then discard a heart on the third diamond and get three ruffs in dummy. He finally decided that he had an excellent chance to bring down the ace of clubs by ruffing. East surely had it for his overcall, and with known length in hearts, his club length should not be great.

South ruffed a club at trick two, then led a low spade to dummy, drawing the last trump. He ruffed another club, led a diamond to the ace, and ruffed a third club. He cashed his two remaining high diamonds, discarding a heart from dummy, and then ruffed his last diamond. Another club ruff brought down the ace and there was still a trump left in dummy to get to it. Nicely played!

Note that the first line would have failed, as East had a doubleton diamond and a second trump.

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