Bridge

WEST WAS distinctly unlucky on this deal from rubber bridge. At a critical point, he had the choice of three plausible lines of defence and chose the one that gave declarer the greatest difficulty. South, however, played well and still got home.

West opened One Heart and East dredged up a response of One No-trump. South, an aggressive bidder, joined in with Two Spades but passed rapidly when his partner gave him a single raise. West led #K against Three Spades and declarer held off but won the diamond continuation. It was not an easy hand to play and, after cashing 2K, he followed with !10.

West eyed this suspiciously but, eventually deciding that his partner must hold !K to have any sort of response, won with his ace (to prevent losing it later to a ruffing finesse) and cashed his winning diamond. Now what?

To play two rounds of trumps would allow declarer to set up and run dummy's clubs. Another possibility was to force dummy to ruff by playing a low heart. This would shut out the club suit but might easily allow South the cross-ruff his way home. West took a good practical chance when he cashed 4A before leading a low heart.

However, South came back with the right answer. He ruffed the heart, ruffed a low club back to hand, and ruffed a heart with 4K, bringing down !K. Another club ruff brought him back to hand to draw trumps, dropping West's jack and giving him his contract.

Declarer did well not to use dummy's 2A, for this would have led to a trump promotion for West's 4J.

Love all; dealer West

North

4K 9 3

!6

#8 7 4

2A 8 6 5 3 2

West East

4A J 48 5 4

!A 8 7 5 3 !K 9 2

#K Q J #10 9 6 2

29 7 4 2Q J 10

South

4Q 10 7 6 2

!Q J 10 4

#A 5 3

2K