USE SCISSORS TO SAVE TRICKS

Finley Peter Dunne, an American journalist and humorist who died in 1936, wrote, “Trust everybody, but cut the cards.” That’s appropriate to this deal.

South did not have many points, but he had lots of winners. Hence his jump to four spades.

If sitting East-West, would you prefer to defend against four spades or to declare in five diamonds?

West cashed the club ace: six, nine, four. Realizing that East had the club queen for his encouraging signal, West switched to his singleton heart. Declarer won in hand and led the spade jack: queen, ace, two. West won the second round of trumps, underled his club king to East’s queen and ruffed the heart return for down one.

West’s plan was transparent. To counteract it, South should have won trick two with dummy’s heart jack, then called for the other red-suit jack. If East had played low, declarer would have produced a scissors coup, discarding his remaining club. West gets an unexpected diamond trick, but East no longer has an entry to deliver the lethal heart ruff. If East had covered the diamond jack with his king, declarer would have ruffed, played the spade jack to the queen and ace, then led the diamond eight. Here, luck would have been in: East couldn’t beat that, so declarer would have pitched his second club and lost only three tricks: one spade, one diamond and one club.

To defeat four spades, West must lead his heart at trick one, then, if necessary, underlead both of his club honors! Finally, five diamonds can be beaten if North-South start with two rounds of hearts to tap the West hand.

CLOSE TO HOME: By John McPherson