Declarer missteps, so trip him up

FRANK-N-ERNEST® GRIZZWELLS® BIG NATE® ARLO & JANIS® ZITS®

Jake Byrne, a former pro football player, said, “An occasional misstep doesn’t brand us as stupid -- it makes us real.”

At the bridge table, if an opponent missteps (or guesses wrongly), don’t stupidly err and let him succeed anyway.

This deal featured an excellent defense by Jan Nicolaisen from Denmark during the 1991 European Championships in Killarney, Ireland.

After a simple Stayman sequence, West led the spade three to East’s ace and South’s queen. Back came the spade 10: king, two, nine. What happened after that?

I would have led the spade six, second-highest from a suit with no honor when the top two cards aren’t touching. (Lead the eight from, say, 8-7-6-3-2.) A fourth-highest lead ought to guarantee at least one honor in the suit.

If declarer could have looked around corners, he would have played a heart to the ace and ducked a heart on the way back. Or he would have cashed his four club tricks, which would have inconvenienced his opponents. Instead, though, he led a low diamond from his hand.

If East had won with his 10, as most of us would have done, and played his last spade, South would have won on the board and led dummy’s remaining diamond. If East followed with his jack, declarer would have won with his ace and played a third round. Or if East put up his king, South would have let him take the trick.

Instead, Nicolaisen won trick three with the diamond king and led his last spade. Then West had to gain the lead in either red suit and could cash two spades to defeat the contract.