Sunday, April 28, 2002		Bridge

Declarer lost one trick in every suit
Omar Sharif

NO matter how many bridge articles you read (or write!) every so often you come across a hand with a simple point and yet find yourself asking: "Would I have seen that at the table?"

This is a good example of what I mean:

South dealt at love-all and opened One Heart. West over-called with Two Clubs, North raided to Three Heart and South went on to game.

Against Four Hearts, West led the Queen of Spades. Declarer won on the table and led trumps — it looked natural, with 11 cards in the suit — and West won and continued Spades.

Now declarer had to take the Diamond finesse and when this failed, he had to lose one trick in every suit.

Unlucky? Well, not really — for declarer, could have given himself a better chance.

Suppose that at trick two he refrains from tackling trumps and plays a Diamond immediately. If East follows with a low card, South tries the nine. As the cards lie, West has to win with a King — and now dummy’s losing Spade goes away on the Diamond winners.

And if West is able to win the Diamond with the 10 or Jack? Well, there is still time to try finessing the Queen.

It is true that you might manage to go to two down, but an extra 50 points is a small price to pay for improving your chances of making a game. Every so often East might hold both the Jack and 10 of Diamonds, as he did here.