BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

SouTH is declarer in 4 ♠ . West leads the ♦ 2, South ducks and wins the diamond continuation. How should he play the hand? iF sOutH tackles the trump suit in the wrong way, he will go down. He has set the scene for ruffing his two losing diamonds by ducking the first trick in the suit. a good declarer never leaves himself open to dangers he can avoid, such as being over-ruffed.

at trick 3, south should lead a low spade and play low from dummy. as long as trumps break no worse than 3-2, the defence will be helpless. a second trump by whichever defender wins this trick does nothing to spoil declarer’s plan.

Winning with the ace, he can ruff a diamond, return to hand via a heart and ruff his last diamond with dummy’s last spade. if the defenders don’t return a trump at trick 4, south should draw one more round with the ace, after which the defence can take only one more trump — a total of two trumps and a diamond.