Sunday, April 7, 2002		Bridge

When East found himself fixed
Omar Sharif

THERE are some deals where, if only you could see all four hands, the right defence would be painfully obvious.

This was an excellent example of what I mean.

South dealt at love all and opened One Diamond. West passed and North, rather than introduce his feeble Spades, raised to Two Diamonds.

Rather aggressively East overcalled with Three Hearts and South contested with Three Spades, which North raised to game. East brooded but passed — West had fewer temptations.

West led the six of Hearts and East took his two tricks in the suit before switching to a low Club — a natural enough move. Declarer won but, with no entry to the table, there, were problems.

One possibility was to hope for the King of trumps to be singleton but a better bet seemed to be finding East with the singleton Ace of Diamonds. After cashing his second top Club, declarer got off lead with a Diamond.

You can see how East found himself fixed — a Club or a Heart return would give declarer access to dummy for a winning trump finesse. It was all over.

Now, be honest, did you see the need to play off the Ace of Diamonds at trick 3 before exiting with a Club? And for the right reasons? It all seems so easy now and it defeats the contract.