THEME VARIATIONS FOR DEFENDERS

For the last couple of days, we have been comparing bridge deals to driving. I particularly like Formula One, about which this observation was made by Englishman Jenson Button, who won the F1 crown in 2009: “To understand the intensity of driving an F1 car, you have to be in it. When you’re driving a 750 hp machine at 200 mph, the noise and the vibrations are incredible. The G-force when you take big corners is like someone trying to rip your head off. You hit the brakes, and it feels as if the skin is being pulled off your body.”

At first glance, this deal seems the same as the one given in the last two columns, but it has slightly different handling characteristics. South is in four spades. West leads the diamond queen. Who reaches the checkered flag first: the declarer or the defenders?

In the auction, South jumped straight to game because he had only five losers. But if he had rebid three clubs, North would have bid four spades with his useful-looking club values.

Declarer has four losers: two spades, one heart and one diamond. The first three are unavoidable, but the fourth, as we saw over the last two days, can be ruffed high on the board.

Today, though, when South ruffs that diamond, East discards the club 10, starting a high-low with a doubleton. The defenders win the first trump and play another club. West cannot be stopped from getting on lead and giving his partner a club ruff. They take two spades, one heart and the ruff.