BRIDGE

Another bridge theme that could be set to a classic sixties rock song.

South’s weak no-trump opening (12-14 high-card points) was raised directly to game by his confident partner.

Dare we say “over confident” as West sallied forth with the diamond four, covered in turn by the nine, Jack and King.

Clearly needing to set up some club winners, South tabled his Queen only to have East produce the Ace and fire back his last diamond to a very pleased West who had five winners to add to the defense’s haul,

Echoes of Neil Sedaka: “Holding up is hard to do!”. Yes, I know his original lyrics were a tad different but please allow a little poetic license at work here.

If South had played low on the first diamond, his contract would have been safe as the defenders could still drive out the one offensive diamond stopper, but West would have no way to regain the lead to enjoy cashing any of his long suit, the club lie being conducive to keeping West off lead while extra tricks were being set up.

Caveat: the hold-up play on this deal only works because diamonds are 6-2 and the West hand with the threatening diamond length doesn’t have the ace of clubs so is it likely to be worthwhile? To put it another way, did South make a poor play by winning the first diamond or was he just unlucky?

Other than the actual lie, there doesn’t seem to be many that South can protect himself from as he’s likely to have to give up the lead in clubs twice so why not holdup his one and only diamond stopper?