Bid them up, then play them up

Calvin Trillin, a writer and humorist, said, “The average trade book has a shelf life of between milk and yogurt, except for books by any member of the Irving Wallace family — they have preservatives.”

Some contracts need trades to preserve their success. Today, South is in four spades. What should he do after the defenders begin with three rounds of diamonds, West ruffing the third with the spade seven?

In the auction, North’s jump to three spades was pre-emptive, showing four-card support and a 10-loser hand — exactly what he had! (With nine losers and 7-9 high-card points, he would have bid three diamonds, the jump cue being called a mixed raise. That is a useful addition to raises in competition.) South’s four-spade bid was necessary for this column to see printer’s ink!

South had four potential losers: one spade, two diamonds and one club. But, assuming East held the spade king as part of his opening bid, declarer counted 10 winners: five spades, two hearts, two clubs and a diamond ruff on the board. What could go wrong?

Maybe the defenders would gain a trump trick even when East held the king. Note what happens if declarer overruffs West’s spade seven with dummy’s 10. However South turns, East will get a trump trick.

To avoid falling to this trump promotion, declarer deftly discarded a club from the dummy — a textbook loseron-loser play. West shifted to a club, but South won with the ace, ran the spade jack, drew trumps and ruffed his third club for a sixth spade trick.