ETCETERA / Bridge

AN AIR of mystery surrounded one result on this deal from a recent pairs event. Six Diamonds was the normal contract, one or two pairs had essayed Six No-trumps successfully, but one declarer made only 11 tricks. How could this be, with everything breaking well?

South opened One Diamond, West overcalled with Two Hearts (weak), and North started operations with a negative double - his only way of beginning to describe a strong hand. South jumped to Four Clubs and now a Blackwood inquiry led to Six Diamonds.

West led the ace of hearts and switched to a club. Declarer took stock; the only possible danger lay in finding a bad break in trumps. With a cunning look he won in dummy and continued with the king of hearts. His idea was that if East did hold four trumps he might mistakenly ruff or at the very least consider the matter.

East did consider the matter at some length. What was declarer trying to do? Surely he knew that the king of hearts could be ruffed, so why had he not drawn trumps first? He came to the conclusion that, if South wanted him to ruff, he would not oblige and he discarded a spade.

You can see what happened. Convinced that he was going to find East with four trumps, declarer cashed the ace of diamonds, nodded happily when West followed with the four, and triumphantly finessed the eight of diamonds. A puzzled West won an unexpected trick with his jack . . . .

North-South game; dealer South

North

K J 3

K 5 4 3 2

A 7 3

K Q

West

9 7 2

A Q 10 9 7 6

J 4

9 7

East

10 8 6 5 4

8

10 6 5

6 5 4 2

South

A Q

J

K Q 9 8 2

A J 10 8 3