You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do

At the bridge table, sometimes you are faced with a situation that looks like a lost cause — because partner overbid again! But maybe you can ride to the rescue. Welsh crime novelist Ethel Lina White wrote, “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”

In today’s deal, South is in three notrump. It is hard to blame North for his bidding, using Stayman to try to uncover a 4-4 heart fit, then jumping to game. But the hands do not mesh well, and the spade lead does not augur well, either. How should South plan the play?

Declarer begins with only six top tricks: one spade, one heart, one diamond and three clubs. Maybe clubs will be 3-3, and perhaps a red-suit finesse or two will work. Also, from the spade-two lead, that suit is splitting 4-3, not 5-2.

The key play comes at trick one — South should put up dummy’s jack. It is his only legitimate chance for taking two spade tricks. If he plays the five or eight from the board, only a neophyte would put up the queen or king instead of the nine or 10.

In this deal, the jack does hold the trick. Now declarer should try for three heart tricks. He plays a club to his king, then leads a low heart and ducks in the dummy.

East will win and continue spades. South takes the third spade and leads another heart: king, ace. After the heart queen, a club to the queen and a club to the ace, declarer exits with the last club to endplay West if he has the diamond king. South takes two spades, two hearts, two diamonds and three clubs.