BRIDGE

When the card gods and the opponents combine to give you maximum options to make a contract, it behooves you to exploit as many of those chances as you can.

Today's South didn't!

The natural response was an invitation to three notrump that South accepted notwithstanding his lack of a club fit, focusing more on those wonderful aces in the other three suits.

Given that the opening lead was a fourth-best spade and thus very likely from a four-card suit (South could see all spades lower than the lead), declarer might well have won the first spade lest a forward-looking defender make an early shift to a heart to dislodge that potentially useful dummy entry.

But he didn't and they didn't either.

Eventually, South won the third round of spades to play a club to one of dummy's equal intermediates. When it held, there was a clear path to the rest of the play: cash the club ace and if an honour appears, force out the other honour to lose but one club and three spades.

When no honour appears, the club suit should be abandoned in favour of a diamond finesse and when that works, cross to the heart King for a second diamond finesse: one spade, two hearts, four diamonds and two clubs.

Instead, South displayed an unrealistic fixation on the club suit after winning the first round in dummy by crossing to the diamond ace for a second club play.

That meant five winners for the defenders before South could get to nine: three spades, one club and the diamond King.

And the nasty defenders had the effrontery to take their tricks!