Bridge

PENCILS could have erasers at both ends, but what would be the point? One of the defenders missed the point when this hand was played in a teams event.

West's lead of the club three was unexpected when his side had bid and supported hearts, but it got the defence off to a promising start. East won and could now defeat 4S by leading diamonds, as long as West ducked the first round of the suit to keep communications open.

East did switch to the seven of diamonds, but West won the ace and tried another round of the suit. Declarer won in hand and knocked out the ace of trumps. Since East had no way to get West on lead, there was no diamond ruff and 4S made.

West defended himself by pointing out that his defence would have been necessary if East had held a singleton diamond. He couldn't tell if East had something like 2-5-1-5 shape (or 3-5-1-4) or the actual layout. What do you think of that justification?

It seemed plausible until East had his say. East needs to hold the ace of spades to give the defence sufficient tricks to beat game. If he had a singleton diamond he had two possible defences: continue clubs at trick two, then later win the ace of trumps and play his diamond. Or he could cash the trump ace at trick two and then play a diamond.

Either way, West would have had no option but to play East for a singleton. His actual line of play, therefore, showed a doubleton diamond (assuming the contract was beatable) and West had a clear duck at trick two.

• This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, March 14, 2010