DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

Engineer’s Law: “The bigger the project, the less time you are given to complete it.”

Tournament bridge is a timed event. In a pairs event, you have 15 minutes to play two deals. If the bidding and play are routine, you may finish in time for a trip to the water cooler. But if your first deal requires complex analysis or guesswork, you may use up most of your allotted time and have to hustle on the second deal.

I would want plenty of time for today’s deal. North-South got to six hearts on their strong 5-2 fit. South might have bid 6NT, but he correctly imagined he might need to set up a long club suit in dummy with ruffs.

West led the jack of diamonds, and South won with the queen. He took the top clubs, ruffed a club high, led a trump to dummy and ruffed a club. He cashed his remaining three high trumps, but West still had a trump. South could pitch one spade on dummy’s good club but still had a spade and a trump to lose.

South couldn’t succeed by discarding a spade on the fourth club instead of ruffing. West, having discarded a diamond on the third round of clubs, would discard his last diamond, and East would give him a ruff.

South must discard a spade on the third club. He wins East’s spade shift, leads a trump to dummy and ruffs a club. South can then draw all the trumps and return to the ace of diamonds to discard his last spade on the good club.

If South could figure that out in eight minutes, he deserves to make the slam.