Bridge

On today’s deal from the quarter-finals of the Spingold championship (the main event of the Summer Nationals), David Berkowitz found a neat line of play to bring home his difficult no-trump game.

West led the spade queen to dummy’s ace, and Berkowitz saw that he might well be unable to develop dummy’s clubs because dummy’s outside entry had been removed by the opening spade lead. But the clubs still had a key role in the play, even though trying them could wait. After all, he could give up a club and rely on the suit being 2-2 at any time.

Therefore, at trick two Berkowitz took the diamond finesse, losing to West’s king. West now thoughtfully switched to the club queen, and Berkowitz ducked, assuming that the suit had to be 3-1 or else West would never have made this play.

West now tried a diamond to declarer’s 10, and Berkowitz led a low heart. West took this (natural, but not best) and led another diamond. Berkowitz cashed his last diamond, and now it was East’s turn to start feeling the pinch. He was forced to save three hearts to protect his 10, together with the guarded club king, and thus could hold only one spade in the endgame. So Berkowitz cashed his two high hearts and the spade king and tucked East in with his heart 10. In the two-card ending, East had to give declarer both tricks by leading into dummy’s club tenace. Well played, indeed!

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Bid four clubs as a splinter, showing a singleton club and a raise to game in hearts. The simplest way to show your hand precisely is by making the splinter-jump, rather than using science such as a Jacoby raise.