Bridge - The Scotsman 08/05/2012

The National Men’s Pairs were won by Tim Wickens and Kim Fryer of Highland district, with David Liggat and Roy Bennett heading the bunch for second place; the Women’s Pairs were won by Edinburgh’s Julia Palmer and Claire Hargan, from Sam Punch and Liz McGowan.

On this deal North’s bidding was too revealing. She might open a weak 2S, making it tough for East-West to get into the auction. 3S makes with a successful heart finesse and a hear ruff in dummy. But she passed because she held four cards in the other major, leaving West to decide whether to open in fourth seat without any major suit length. Passing seemed a bit extreme with a 14-count, but her 1D opener allowed North to make a delayed weak jump. East made a negative double to show four hearts, South boldly raised to 3S, and West guessed correctly to bid on.

4D looks dangerously high. North led the king of spades, and declarer saw four losers (it seemed unlikely the diamond finesse would succeed). There was a ray of hope. If North’s delayed entry into the auction meant she was 6-4 the contract could be made if she had a singleton diamond. Declarer won the ace of spades and played a diamond to the ace, then crossed her fingers and played four rounds of clubs, discarding dummy’s second spade. When North showed out on the third club and could not ruff declarer was home, losing just two hearts and a diamond.