Contract Bridge

Given the distribution of the East-West hands, it’s not surprising that those Souths in four spades on this deal from a national pair championship failed to make their contract. However, the play at one table where declarer went down one produced a most unusual denouement.

West began by leading his singleton diamond to dummy’s ace. South didn’t care much for his prospects and had to hope for favorable distribution plus some help from the opponents. So at trick two he crossed to the ace of hearts and led the four of clubs. West put up the ace and returned the jack of hearts to dummy’s king.

Declarer cashed the king of clubs, discarding a diamond, but when he next tried to cash the queen, East ruffed with the nine of spades. After overruffing with the jack, South ruffed a diamond with dummy’s seven and led a heart, planning to ruff low in his hand. But East put a stop to that by ruffing with the five, forcing declarer to overruff with the queen.

South was now able to trump another diamond in dummy with the ten, but when he next led a club from the table, East applied the coup de grace by ruffing with the six. Declarer overruffed with the king to score his ninth trick, but this sequence of plays had created a rather odd ending. Thanks to East’s continual uppercutting tactics, West’s A-8-4 had become the three highest trumps and won the last three tricks!

It’s comforting to know that the gods of chance, who can be rather fickle at times, occasionally display a sense of humor. Tomorrow: Bidding quiz.