Bridge - The Scotsman 05/10/12

This example comes from the Senior Pairs at the Open European Championshps in Poznan, where Senior Moments abounded.

South opened her long suit, and West overcalled in his good suit. North doubled, showing general values and South rebid her suit. North was worth a try for game with 2NT, but South understandably did not fancy that contract. She pulled to 3D and so the lucky game was missed.

3D appears to have the same nine tricks as 3NT; there are only three club losers, but the spade finesse is wrong. +110 would obviously be a poor pairs score, but you should never give up. West led the king of hearts, and declarer won and ruffed a heart in case there was a bad trump break. She played king and ace of diamonds, ruffed another heart, then drew the last trump. Each defender had to make one discard, and each discarded a club. Declarer led an innocent-looking club towards the ten in dummy. West ducked, and East won the queen. His next play was to cash the ace of clubs, felling partner’s king. He played a third club to the jack, and West started to feel the pain. In the four-card ending declarer cashed her last trump. West had to keep a heart so as not to establish dummy’s eight. He discarded a spade, and declarer dropped his queen to make eleven tricks and tie with those who played in a no-trump partscore.