BRIDGE

Today’s deal is from an important tournament in Europe earlier this year. Many pairs reached six hearts with the North-south cards, but 29 declarers failed to bring in 12 tricks after a heart lead.

The common play, after a trump lead, was to win the lead in hand with the ace and cash the ace and king of clubs. They then ruffed a club in hand and were over-ruffed by West. A trump continuation by West took South’s last trump and there was still an unavoidable club loser for down one.

The two successful declarers — Russian star Alexander Dubinin and lesser known Greek expert Petros Roussos — showed better technique. They won the heart lead with dummy’s king, cashed the ace and king of clubs, and then ruffed a club with the ace of hearts! They led a diamond to the ace and then ruffed another club, this time with the five of hearts.

West over-ruffed, but on any continuation, declarer was able to ruff a spade in dummy and cash the queen of hearts. That drew the outstanding trumps and declarer claimed the balance. Well done!

A key point is that a trump lead from a good player when you have an eight-card trump fit usually means that the trumps are splitting 3-2. Good players are reluctant to lead a singleton trump or from a holding of four or more. They would usually lead a long suit to try to attack declarer’s trumps, if possible.