ETCETERA: BRIDGE

IT WAS not accurate defence that defeated South on this deal, but his own lack of logical thinking.

East opened One Spade and, after two passes, North doubled. East passed, South responded Two Hearts, and North raised to Three. This was a little pushy, but his double was only protective and he might have held considerably less. South accepted the invitation and West led the two of spades.

East took his ace and, as what would have been the killing diamond switch looked dangerous, returned a spade to the king. Declarer saw matters in a simple light. After drawing trumps in three rounds and ruffing a spade, he led a low club to the jack and ace. The ten of clubs lost to the king, but, when the clubs did not break, two diamonds had to be lost.

If declarer was banking on a 3-3 club break, there was no need to fear a club ruff and this suit should have been played earlier. There was the extra chance that East (who was, after all, marked with nearly all the missing points) held the king and jack alone. Try this sequence of play - after winning the spade return at trick 2, cross to a trump, and play a club to the jack and ace. Now two more rounds of trumps, ending in dummy, allow a low club to be led towards the ten. There are still two entries to dummy (the ace of diamonds and the deferred spade ruff) to enable declarer to unblock with the ten of clubs and later cash the queen.

GAME ALL: dealer East

North

] 7 4

_ A K 9 3

+ A 10 5

[ Q 7 6 5

West East

] 10 6 2 ] A Q J 9 8

_ J 7 _ 6 5 2

+ Q 9 4 3 + K J 6

[ 9 8 4 3 [ K J

South

] K 5 3

_ Q 10 8 4

+ 8 7 2

[ A 10 2