Goren on Bridge

North-South vulnerable, South deals

North bid aggressively to a slam that needed, at the very least, for the ace of spades to be in the West hand. That was far more likely than usual, however, after West’s takeout double. Even so, there was still a problem with the fourth club. Did declarer need a 3-3 club split also?

South won the opening diamond lead with dummy’s ace and led a low heart to his ace. Before drawing any more trumps, he led the two of spades toward dummy’s king. West hopped up with his ace to play another diamond. South ruffed, drew two more rounds of trumps, and then led the jack of spades. West had to cover with the queen, so declarer won with dummy’s king and ruffed a spade. The fall of the 10 of spades from East meant that dummy’s nine of spades could now be used to discard declarer’s fourth club and the club split no longer mattered.

This was good play by declarer in developing a second spade trick. Still, the defense could have done better. Can you spot how? West could have defeated the contract by playing low from his hand when declarer led the first spade toward the king. This would have been a courageous play, as the spade could easily have been a singleton. Declarer would then have had no chance to develop an extra spade trick and the slam would have been defeated.

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