CONTRACT BRIDGE A Little Extra Thought Pays Dividends

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31764, 22 August 1968, Page 7

CONTRACT BRIDGE A Little Extra Thought Pays Dividends

'Contributed by J.R.W.) _ Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but to a bridge player the denomination of the trump suit does not matter as long as he has plenty of it In a typical contract provided his and his partner’s bidding has been reasonable, the declarer will have an abundance of trumps, so that he can lead out a few rounds to void his opponents and still have some left Sometimes, however, for one reason or another he cannot do this. He may then find that while in his hands trumps

are valuable, to the defenders they are priceless. Summary Defeat N. S—A 10 4 H—Q3 D—AKBS C—KlO42 W. E. 5—Q98653 S—2 H—A6 H—B7 4 2

D—Q 9 4 D—J 10 76 3 2 C—9 5 C—7 6 S. S—KJ7 H—KJIO9S C—AQJB3

South having landed in six hearts received the lead of the six of spades from West. He gravely inspected the dummy, solemnly thanked his partner and calmly proceeded to go one down in a cold contract The first trick was won by dummy’s 10 of spades, and the queen of hearts was led and captured by West’s ace. Another spade was ruffed by East, thus bringing matters to a summary conclusion. It was not a difficult defence to find. West knew his partner would play his highest

card on the first round of spades, so when the 10 held it was obvious South had both the king and jack and therefore that East had no more.

The declarer was unlucky, of course, but a little patience and forethought would have saved the contract. Instead of automatically drawing trumps as soon as he won the lead, he should have played off dummy’s ace and king of diamonds, discarding his two remaining spades from his own hand. Having done this he turns to the hearts. West can win the first round as before and lead a spade for his partner to ruff. Now, however, South over-ruffs, finishes drawing trumps and runs off his clubs, thus making his contract with ease. In this way he would have made up for his side’s inferior bidding. Six hearts may be makeable, but six clubs and six no-trumps are practically foolproof. Beaten by Ruffs N. S—Q H—9 83 D—A KJ 4 C—KQ 1063 W. E. S—A 104 S—93 2 H—K 65 4 2 H—Q 10 7 D—10853 D—92 C—A C—J 9 75 2 S. S—KJ 8 7 6 5 H—AJ D—Q76 C—B4 North-South had a partscore of 30 which partly accounts for the bidding: W. N. E. S. No 1C No IS 2H 3C No 3S All pass.

West had no very attractive opening lead, but finally settled on a diamond, which was taken by dummy’s ace. The queen of spades was led. and West allowed it to win. The declarer now made the mistake of entering his hand with the queen of diamonds to lead another round of trumps. Having noted the fall of his partner’s nine of diamonds, West quickly took his ace of spades, cashed his ace of clubs and led a third round of diamonds. East ruffed with his last spade and continued with another club ruffed by West By this time South had no more clubs or diamonds and consequently no means of entering dummy. After getting off lead with a heart to his partner’s queen and th.e declarer’s ace, West sat back and Waited to make his king of hearts. One trick in clubs, one in hearts, the ace of spades and two cross-ruffs added up to five and the contract had been defeated. While the defence Was very competent, South contributed to his own downfall by leading a second round of diamonds after being allowed to make the queen of spades. If at this stage he had returned to hand with the ace of hearts to continue leading spades, no defence could have beaten him.

Like the declarer in the first example, South was in too much of a hurry. A little extra thought would have revealed a far safer line of play and virtually eliminated all risks.