Bridge, like life, is a game of give and take. Today's deal provides a
graphic illustration of the concept.
North-South vulnerable East deals
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
Pass |
1 |
Dble |
1 |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
3 |
Pass |
3NT |
Pass |
5 |
End |
|
Opening Lead:
J
South was dead minimum (we would say
sub-minimum) for her reverse rebid of 2.
Because a reverse is forcing for one round
and drives responder to the three-level to
show simple preference for opener's first-bid
suit, opener must have a strong hand. Opener has
17 points, but it is not clear that either
of the major-suit queens will have any real
value. 3NT would have been a ridiculous
contract, but North, whose slender assets
were oriented toward suit play, removed to
5.
5 was no thing of beauty either. A heart
lead and continuation would have scuttled it
immediately, but West, not unreasonably, led
a trump. Declarer won and led the
K, ruffing away West's ace. A second trump to
hand extracted the remaining lurkers, and
dummy's heart losers disappeared on the
queen-jack of clubs. A promising start for
declarer, who continued with the Q.
Had West taken the A, declarer would have
made the contract easily. Declarer ruffs a
heart in dummy, plays the 10 to West's jack,
discarding a loser. Dummy's spades are now
established and a second heart ruff provides
the entry to the suit.
But West withheld the A.
Declarer, who was now in a position to lose
no spades at all, saw that the key to the
hand was to lose not one but two spade
tricks. How odd! Declarer overtook the $Q
with dummy's king and continued with the
10, discarding a heart. West won the J and
led a heart, but declarer ruffed with
dummy's penultimate trump and passed the 9, discarding another heart. West won the A
but dummy still had a trump entry to reach
the three spade winners.
Try to make 5 without the overtaking play
and double "loser-on-loser" play in the
spade suit. Send us a postcard when you do.