Goren on Bridge

East-West can make four hearts in today’s deal and would likely have reached that contract. North’s four-spade bid prevented that and ended the auction.

East won the opening club lead with his jack and continued with his ace. South ruffed and led a low heart to dummy’s jack and East’s king. South ruffed the king of clubs with the 10 of spades and ruffed a heart in dummy. The ace and king of spades drew the trumps and declarer ruffed his last heart in dummy.

It was time to tackle the diamond suit. There is no problem if the missing diamonds split 3-2 — the percentage split. A good declarer will invest some time deciding whether or not he can handle a bad split. There is nothing to be done if diamonds split 5-0, but what about a 4-1 split? Declarer can handle that split provided the singleton diamond is the queen, jack, 10, or 9 — a solid fourto-one chance. South led a low diamond from dummy and played low from his hand when East played the jack. Should East win this trick, he will have to yield a ruff-sluff. West can overtake the jack, but what can he do? West can lead another diamond instead of giving a ruff-sluff, but that will allow declarer to pick up the rest of the suit without loss. Making four!

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