Bridge - The Scotsman 24/02/2012

This deal from the Scottish Women’s Teams involved some tough high-level decisions. West opened 1C and North had to decide how many spades to bid. At this vulnerability she would prefer a better suit for 3S, so 2S was a popular choice. That allowed East to bid a forcing 3H. South might have shown a good raise by bidding 4H, or cuebidding 4D, but she preferred a simple game bid. West naturally supported partner’s five-card suit, perhaps secretly hoping for a double. North-South can make 5S, but that was not clear to either player, and they chose to follow the old adage: ‘The five-level belongs to the opposition’.

East was rather pleased with her dummy. The contract looked easy – draw trump and cash clubs. Her pleasure did not last long. South cashed the king of spades and the king of diamonds, then switched to a club. Declarer won in dummy and played a heart – and North showed out. Suddenly the excellent contract had no play, for want of the ten of hearts in dummy to win a fourth round of trump. Declarer ruffed her second spade to dummy and discarded two diamonds on clubs, but South ruffed the third club and returned a heart. Declarer ruffed one of her two remaining diamonds dummy’s last trump, then discarded her last diamond on a club as South ruffed again. Two down, after losing two trump tricks with such an excellent trump suit. Still, a good sacrifice against 5S. Should someone double?