The Bridge Column

OVERKILL East-West vulnerable, North deals

Hard Luck Louie was delighted to see the opening spade lead against his three no-trump contract. “A gift,” he thought. He played low from dummy and captured

East’s queen with his king. He led a club to dummy’s ace, overtook the queen of clubs with his king, and cashed the jack of clubs. The clubs failed to split 3-3 and Louie drifted down one after struggling for a while. Lucky Larry also received a spade lead when he played three no-trump, but he took better advantage of it. He played the jack of spades from dummy at trick one, assuring himself of a late entry to his hand after unblocking the high clubs in dummy. East covered the jack with the queen and Larry took his king. Rather than playing on clubs right away, Larry led a low diamond to dummy’s queen and East’s king. East returned a spade, which Larry won in dummy with the ace. Larry cashed the ace and queen of clubs, crossed to his hand with the 10 of spades and ran the rest of the club suit. The ace of hearts was his ninth trick and Larry made his contract. Larry’s diamond play at trick two was a safety play in case the clubs split 5-1. Larry would then still have a chance for a ninth trick in diamonds if West started with either one or both high diamonds. Nice play!*