New Canadian Bridge

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2020

The ten of clubs was covered by the jack and king as declarer drew trump ending in hand to advance and pass the jack of diamonds. East scored the queen and switched to a spade but South could claim an overtrick.

West should begin with a top spade to gain a look at dummy and continue the suit when partner encourages.

South is quite likely to discard a diamond from hand fearing a 4-2 heart break. The defense cannot profitably play a third spade because declarer would ruff in dummy.

Suppose that West shifts to a diamond for dummy's king. Declarer draws trump, leads a diamond to the ace and ruffs a diamond to emerge with another eleven tricks.

A club switch would fare no better because South would insert the ten and later pick up the suit by running the eightspot. He might even play diamonds from the top in the end game.

The Moysian (4-3) heart fit proved to be a viable contract. Eleven tricks would roll home in diamonds when a trump finesse fails but eleven tricks in clubs are questionable when South plays trump from the top. In this scenario, he would be compelled to drop the queen of diamonds to emerge with eleven tricks.

East wanted to raise spades but the adverse vulnerability was a strong deterrent.

Author: Dave Willis - visit his website at www.insidebridge.ca

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