BETTER WEST THAN EAST

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST 1♣ Pass 1♦ Pass 1♠ Pass 4♠ All pass Opening lead: Eight of ◆

A straightforward auction to a solid contract. This would be an easy one if the trumps split normally. The opening diamond lead went to East’s jack and South’s king.

South immediately cashed the king of spades, getting the bad news. “If somebody has to have all five trumps,” thought South, “better West than East.”

South continued by cashing the ace of hearts and leading a diamond. South didn’t mind if West ruffed this diamond, as that would help South get to 10 tricks. West followed suit, however, so South won with dummy’s ace, ruffed a heart with the two of spades, and led another diamond.

West did ruff this time and then led the king of hearts.

South smartly ruffed this with the queen of spades and led his remaining spade to dummy’s 10.

He cashed the ace of spades, leaving West with the jack and dummy with the seven, and started running dummy’s diamonds. West could ruff whenever he liked, but the defense could only score one club trick to go with West’s two trump tricks and South made his contract. Nicely played!

Bad trump splits are inevitable from time to time. When it happens to you, stay calm. There is often a way to handle the bad split with careful play.

Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to With Tannah Hirsch and Bob Jones Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrove Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001. E-mail tcaeditors@tribune.com. North-South vulnerable, South deals