ETCETERA / Bridge
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Your support makes all the difference.'IT all started too well,' observed South after failing in his adventurous slam on this deal. 'I might have guessed that my luck would not hold.'
Up to a point he had played the hand well but, right at the end, he missed a far from obvious way of improving his chances.
South opened One Spade and North responded Two No-trumps (Baron) - forcing, and showing at least 16 points. South bid Three Diamonds and, after a preference to spades, an exchange of cue-bids led to Six Spades.
West led the jack of clubs and it was clear to declarer that he needed not only to find West with the ace of hearts but a certain amount of good fortune as well.
He won with the ace, drew just two rounds of trumps, then led a heart to the king which held, East following with the ten. After returning to hand with a third round of trumps he led another heart and West did well to play low again to let the queen win.
This was the critical point. In the hope of a 3-3 break in hearts, with the diamond suit in reserve, declarer conceded a heart. West won, exited safely with his ace of hearts, and waited patiently for the setting trick to come in diamonds.
Instead of playing the third round of hearts, can you see any possible virtue in South leading a losing club from the table and discarding his last heart -
exchanging one loser for another?
Say West wins and gets off lead with a heart which declarer ruffs. The difference now is that West still has a top heart and dummy the eight. When declarer plays off his last trump West finds himself squeezed in the red suits.
Game all; dealer South
North
S Q J 9
H K Q 8 4
D A Q 4
C Q 7 3
West
S 7 3
H A J 9 6
D J 9 6 5
C J 10 6
East
S 6 4 2
H 10 5
D 8 2
C K 9 8 5 4 2
South
S A K 10 8 5
H 7 3 2
D K 10 7 3
C A
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