Bridge

This month I shall be showing you some deals from Eddie Kantar’s new book, “Kantar on Kontract,” a collection of his best columns of the last 40 years. Details of the book can be obtained from kantarbridge.com.

Let’s see how imaginative you are. Look at the four hands in today’s deal and try to figure out how the expert South went down in three no-trump on a heart lead without doing anything crazy.

South took East’s heart queen with his king and decided to live or die by the diamond finesse, and not mess with the spades. Going for five tricks in spades, necessary if hearts are not 4-4, would have required West to have both spade honors.

Accordingly, South cashed both top clubs at tricks two and three, then crossed to the spade ace to take the diamond finesse. But a funny thing happened on the way to that diamond finesse: East dropped the king of spades under the ace!

Now who can blame South for thinking that it would be safer to play West for the spade jack than East for the diamond king? After all, if South can score five spade tricks, he doesn’t need the diamond finesse. South returned to his diamond ace and ran the spade nine. Shock! East won the jack and returned a heart, and South wound up down three!

East had visualized declarer’s problem and had given him a losing option. South took it — hook, line and sinker.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Bid two no-trump, invitational but not forcing. Your well-placed spade honors and your potential fit and source of tricks in clubs should allow you to make a marginal overbid. Had partner opened one diamond instead, a call of one no-trump would have sufficed.