BRIDGE

SOUTH was right to suggest playing in notrumps since North might have raised the hearts on three-card support. 3NT would have been easy but this was difficult for North to judge and he went back to hearts. How would you play 4H when West leads the four of diamonds to the ace and East returns the diamond queen? The first smart move is to withhold the diamond king. West’s lead is an obvious singleton and you do not want the king to be ruffed. East switches to a trump and you must now set up the clubs while retaining a trump entry to dummy. A firstround duck in clubs would be safe as the cards lie. Declarer played a club to the ace, a second trump to his hand (East showing out), and a club to the king. He then surrendered a club trick on the third round. There was nothing East could do. A spade return would be run to the queen. On a diamond return, declarer would put in the nine. If West ruffed, declarer would overruff and then have a spare trump in the South hand to reach the diamond king. If instead West decline to ruff, declarer would dummy’s spade loser, draw trumps and claim.

In a recent teams-of-four match West at both tables was faced with this situation. Partner’s double shows a strong hand and his probable shape is something like 4-1-5-3. One West player bid 4S, He ran into a 5-0 break and went three down- an expensive venture even when undoubled. The other West took the view that it would be easier to score four tricks in defence than ten tricks playing the contract. He collected +100 for one down.

Awards: Pass-10, 4S-4.

David Bird — Knight Features

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