Extra Careful

16th October – Board 5. North/South Game. Dealer North.

Sometimes when you think Christmas has come early you have to be extra careful and strive hard to get even the most meagre present…

	North: S 10 9 2 H J D Q 3 C A J 10 9 4 3 2
West: S Q 5 4 H none D K J 10 9 7 5 C Q 7 6 5		East: S K 8 7 3 H A K 10 9 7 5 4 2 D none C 8
	South: S A J 6 H Q 8 6 3 D A 8 6 4 2 C K

West	North	East	South
	3C	4H	Dbl
End

I don’t know why the auction wouldn’t go like that at every table and perhaps it did, with the lead obviously the king of clubs – but what then? A spade lead away from the ace would give declarer three tricks in that suit which, together with seven trump tricks would be enough for the contract. Nor is the ace of diamonds any good. Declarer would ruff, play three rounds of trumps from the top and eventually enter dummy with the queen of spades to get spade pitches on the diamonds, with the queen obligingly dropping. Of course South would stop that by rising with the ace but then declarer has enough tricks. The only defence really is for South to switch to a trump. Declarer will win and play three rounds but South wins the queen and exits with his last trump. Stuck in hand declarer will have to broach spades himself and lose two tricks in that suit for a one trick defeat.