ETCETERA / Bridge
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Your support makes all the difference.'THEY defended too well and there was an unkind distribution,' South complained after failing to make Four Spades on this deal. He had completely overlooked a neat alternative play that could hardly have failed.
South opened One Spade and North raised to Two Spades.
He had stretched slightly because of the pre- emptive value of his bid and was a little concerned when South jumped to game.
West led the queen of diamonds against Four Spades, and it looked a simple matter to South - he would play on hearts at every opportunity and, even if the suit did not divide evenly, might well be able to ruff the last one in dummy.
Accordingly he led a heart at trick 2, but East won and returned a trump.
South conceded another heart and East led a second trump. A third heart revealed the 4-2 break and a third round of trumps from East left declarer with two losers but only one trump in dummy to take care of them. As a result, he ended with only nine tricks.
Try the effect of cashing the ace of clubs at trick 2 before leading a heart. As before, the defenders win and lead a trump. Declarer wins on the table and ruffs a club high in hand. Then he crosses to dummy with the queen of spades and ruffs another club.
Finally, he cashes his second top diamond, trumps a diamond on the table, and ruffs another club. In this way he scores seven trump tricks to go with his three outside winners.
North
S. Q J 9 7
H. 8 7 5
D. 6 4
C. 10 8 7 2
South
S. A K 10 8 6
H. 6 4 3 2
D. A K 7
C. A
East
S. 5
H. J 9
D. Q J 10 9 5 2
C. K 9 6 3
West
S. 4 3 2
H. A K Q 10
D. 8 3
C. Q J 5 4
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