National Post

BRIDGE

- By Paul Thurston Feedback always welcome at tweedguy@gmail.com

Do you ever get a premonitio­n that something bad is about to happen when a casual partner goes into deep-study mode when a critical point in the play has been reached?

A straightfo­rward value auction to a respectabl­e game contract saw the defenders get off to a fast start: Jack of spades opening lead overtaken by the Queen for East to cash the King and continue with the ace.

Time for a pause in the action and to cue the foreboding music while declarer ponders what to do on that third round of spades.

Over a post-session adult beverage and dissection of the session, South revealed that he was trying to decide whether to ruff that third spade with the heart ten or with either of his two high honours.

The former works if East had the Jack while the second option would be better if the heart Jack was going to fall in the first two rounds of the suit regardless of which defender had been dealt that crucial card.

Dramatic flair as South emerged from his study by playing the King. That did stop a ruff by West but also stopped North-south from making their contract thanks to the trump trick promoted for West to go with an inescapabl­e diamond loser.

Yes, South had made the trump play with the best odds within the heart suit but the study time had apparently overlooked a much superior play for declarer to make at trick three: discard the small diamond from his hand.

That kind of loser-onloser play will often be the contract-saver when you expand your range of options to think about.

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