Bridge - The Scotsman 27/02/2012

The SBU Mixed Swiss pairs were won by Veronica Guy and George Plant with a magnificent 137 Victory Points out of a possible 160. Second and third were two Silver pairs from Ayrshire: David and Sandra Wiseman and Donnie and Anne Graham.

Eight-card trump fits can be awkward when breaks are bad. Here South reached 4H in spite of West’s Michaels cuebid, showing spades and a minor. North’s double was pushy, but South was full value for her advance to game. West led the king of diamonds. Declarer won the ace, cashed the ace of spades, and exited with a diamond, hoping for some help. West allowed East to win this trick, and he returned a spade. Ruffing would not achieve much, and might jeopardise trump control, so declarer discarded her third diamond and West won the king.

What should West lead now? A heart helps declarer pick up partner’s trump, and a spade gives at least one discard as well as an entry to dummy. A diamond allows partner to throw his third spade, but also gives an extra entry to dummy. She switched to a club, to the queen, king and ace. South crossed to the king of hearts and finessed a heart, discovering that East had four trump. She played the nine of clubs, then the seven to create an entry, but East held off. When he won the fourth club he could exit with a spade, which South had to ruff and concede a trump trick for one down.