Goren on Bridge

This contract would have been an easy one had the outstanding spades split 3-2, but the opening spade lead looked ominously like a singleton. Declarer was able to overcome the adversity.

South won the opening lead in dummy, crossed to his hand with a heart to the ace, and led his remaining spade. It would not profit West to ruff. Indeed, it would have made the hand simple for declarer, so he discarded a club instead. South won the trick in dummy and led another spade, simply ruffing it with a low heart. West had no effective way to proceed. He chose to overruff and lead the king of clubs and another club to East’s ace. East shifted to a diamond, but South rose with his ace and led a heart to dummy’s queen, drawing the last missing trump. A spade was ruffed high and dummy was re-entered with the eight of hearts. Declarer’s two remaining diamonds were discarded on the established spades. Making four!

Had West refused to over-ruff the third spade, South would have ducked a diamond, eventually ruffing a diamond in dummy for his tenth trick. Note the importance of the timing. Had South ducked a diamond before ruffing a spade, the defense could have cashed two club tricks, ending in the East hand. A spade from East would have to be ruffed high, and a diamond ruff in dummy would have left South with no way back to his hand without promoting a trump trick for West. Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrove Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001. Email responses may be sent to tcaeditors@tribune.com. © 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.