Bridge

It is certainly true that, when you know where most of the outstanding points lie, you can often make Three No-Trumps with fewer values than are normally needed. Following this principle, North-South pushed to a thin game on this deal and got home after dozy play on West’s part. West opened One Spade and after two passes, South bid Two Diamonds. West persisted with Two Spades and, stretching somewhat, North tried Three Spades. Not to be outdone, South bid 3NT, against which West led A. After studyingdummy,heswitchedto 4, which went to the three nine and jack. Declarerplayedoff Kand A,then led Qfromthetable. Eastcovered, South won, and West parted with a low heart. Next, declarer played off two more winning diamonds and West discarded two more low hearts. Before cashing the last diamond. Southled 9andletWestholdthe trick with his now bare king. With nothing but spades left, West continued with the ace and another. Now, after cashing the last diamond, South simply played a club. Atthisstagedummyheld A 7. If East had saved two clubs, he would have had to give declarer the last trick: ifhehadsavedaheart, Awas brought back to life. There were two points to note. Declarercuthimselfofffrom A,but it did not matter and – more significantly – West should have discarded Katanearlystage(if Southheld Q,thiswasauseless card and a liability.)