Bridge - The Scotsman 21/02/2012

On this deal from the Scottish Women’s Teams most Wests made 4H in comfort. Declarer won the club lead with the ace and knocked out the ace of diamonds. The trump switch came too late: declarer could ruff her little diamond in dummy for her tenth trick.

Yvonne Wiseman received a more challenging trump lead. South played ace and another, and when North won the ace of diamonds she played a third heart to kill dummy’s ruff. Wiseman countered this unkind defence by playing a low spade in this position:

North allowed South to win the queen, setting up a double squeeze. Declarer cashed two diamonds, the ace of spades and one more heart, discarding a club and a spade from dummy. On the last heart North had to unguard clubs to keep the king of spades, dummy threw her last spade, and South was squeezed in diamonds and clubs. If North takes the king of spades she must return a diamond to break up a simple squeeze against South.

The only sure winning line on a trump lead is to retain the king of hearts as an entry and play ace and another spade: if North wins there is a ruffing finesse against South’s queen, if she ducks her king can be ruffed out.