Bridge

Wed., Sept. 1, 2004

Bobby Wolff United Features Syndicate

On today’s deal South decided to take out insurance by bidding four spades over four hearts and reaped a generous reward when the defense slipped.

West led his singleton diamond against four spades, and on winning East’s queen with his ace, declarer thoughtfully continued with a club to dummy’s ace and a club ruff, starting to eliminate the side suits. Then he played a spade, won by West. The defense’s next move was critical. In fact, West made the natural play when he exited with a third club, ruffed by South, who continued with another spade. In with the spade king, West was finally endplayed. He chose to exit with a fourth club, which declarer ruffed with his last trump in hand, throwing the losing heart from dummy. Now he simply played on diamonds until East ruffed with the spade ace, but at that point declarer had the rest, losing just three trump tricks.

West should have worked out that he was very unlikely to set the contract unless his partner produced the spade ace. So he should have planned his defense around that possibility. The contract is defeated if, at trick five, West cashes his second spade honor before getting off lead with a club. Declarer plays on diamonds, but when East ruffs in with the spade ace, he can return a heart through declarer’s queen.

Incidentally, West might have had an even better idea of the diamond position if East had played small at trick one!

Bid with the aces

South holds:

	“A 10 2
	“10 8 7 2
	“Q 4
	“K 10 7 4

South	West	North	East
		1 “	Dbl.
?

Answer: Respond one no-trump. If your RHO had passed, you would have bid one heart (though one no-trump also makes sense), but when you are warned of bad splits, you do not need to introduce a bad four-card major here. One no-trump shows 7-10; reserve a redouble for a hand with more game interest than this.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.