BRIDGE with Bob Jones

South had managed to scramble seven tricks in one club on the previous deal so they had a part-score of 20 points. North used a transfer overcall and then bid to three hearts in an effort to close out the rubber.

South captured East’s king of spades with the ace at trick one. Obviously, West held almost all of the missing high cards, but declarer did not have enough entries to take full advantage of that knowledge. He led a diamond to the king at trick two, and continued with another diamond. West won with the queen, cashed the ace of diamonds, and then tried to endplay the dummy by cashing the queen of spades and the ace of clubs. West’s plan was to put dummy on play with the king of clubs, assuring himself of the setting trick with the queen of trumps.

South found a neat reply to this defense by playing dummy’s king of clubs under the ace! He captured the ensuing club play with the queen and led the jack of hearts. West chose to cover with the queen, in case the jack was singleton, but his play didn’t matter. Declarer won with the ace in dummy, and with no entry back to his hand, cashed the king of hearts praying for the 10 to fall. His prayers were answered and the rubber was over.

East, a good guy over a cigar and a brandy, was a miserable bridge partner. “Couldn’t you play the queen of diamonds on the first round of the suit?” said East. “Then I could use my diamond entry to lead clubs for you.”