Sunday, May 19, 2002		Bridge

When declarer missed a neat safety-play
Omar Sharif

SOME winning plays by declarer look unnatural and it is usually that they are missed by players who refuse to read any of the literature of the game.

I am not saying that you will achieve perfection if you study this column every week, but I am sure it helps. On this week’s deal I suffered when it became clear that partner had not seen the situation before.

At love-all I passed as North, East opened One Club and South overcalled with Four Spades to end the auction. West led the eight of Clubs and declarer won cheaply with his ten. Without a care he continued with the Ace of Clubs. West ruffed and switched to a trump.

Now, although declarer could trump one of his losing Clubs on the table, he still had to lose a Club, a Diamond and a Heart to go one off.

"It was unlucky to find West with a singleton Club," he explained and I nodded gravely. As you can see, declarer missed a neat safety-play that would have ensured ten tricks.

Suppose, after winning with the ten of Clubs, he simply leads a low Club from hand, keeping the Ace for safer times?

Perhaps East wins this and returns a trump, but South can win in hand, ruff the Queen of Clubs on the table, come to hand with the Ace of Hearts and draw trumps. Then — and only then — he will take his Ace of Clubs.