BRIDGE A temptation hard to resist

James Branch Cabell, a fantasy fiction author, wrote, “There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.”

That is especially true for a bridge player if it resulted in a plus score instead of a minus score.

A defender is more prone to succumb to temptation than declarer because it is easier to play accurately when you can see all of your army.

What happened in four spades after West led the diamond queen?

East’s balancing one-no-trump overcall showed 11-14 high-card points. South was aggressive in continuing with three hearts opposite a partner who could not respond initially. Then North, looking at an ace, three trumps and a ruffing value in hearts, thought his hand was worth the jump to four spades. Declarer won with dummy’s diamond ace, played a heart to his queen (the top of touching honors from the closed hand), cashed the heart ace and led the heart three. West could not resist it — he ruffed with the spade 10. However, South trumped West’s diamond continuation, ruffed a heart on the board and ran the spade eight through East. When that held, declarer played another trump and lost only two spades (West’s ruff and East’s ace) and one club. If West had discarded at trick four, the contract would have failed. South would have ruffed on the board, crossed to the club ace and led another heart. But now West would ruff with the spade 10 and continue with either a diamond or a club. As South would be unable to get into the dummy, East would take two spade tricks for down one.