Bridge - The Scotsman 21/06/13

Bridge can be very unfair. Sometimes overbidding is rewarded with undeserved success.

On this deal from the 2011 EBL Open Teams in Poznan South’s only excuse for bidding on to 3NT was the vulnerable game bonus. West led the jack of clubs, and declarer saw that she was in a poor spot. Only five Sure Tricks, and two five-card fits that could not be relied on to produce the extra four required. Playing for miraculous breaks in both minors, she rose with the ace, noting that East had unblocked the queen. Still, there was nothing to do but play a diamond. When East won and returned a heart rather than a club the picture started to became clearer. Declarer won the king to preserve an entry to hand. She cashed the jack of diamonds – and West showed out in his turn.

Suddenly the no play contract looked healthier. Declarer crossed to the ace of hearts and cashed the king of diamonds, grateful that the 98 provided another stopper. She discarded one of dummy’s spades on the king of diamonds, then crossed to a top spade to lead a third heart to endplay East. He could cash two hearts and a diamond, but then had to lead a spade into dummy’s remaining KJ.

Deep Finesse beats the game by leading a spade, which attacks dummy’s entries, but surely no real life player would find that. Note that declarer cannot afford to duck the first club – that would be the fifth trick for the defence.