Bridge - The Scotsman 14/12/12

THIS deal from the Scottish Women’s Trials was amusing for some. South’s substandard opening bid got her side to a game with four top losers, but made it hard for the defenders to realise how many gaps there were.

What should West lead? A top spade is not unreasonable. Dummy may well have a singleton spade, but West has good enough pips to be sure that South cannot successfully ruff out the suit. Perhaps it is better to keep partner happy by obeying her lead-directing double and trying a club; the lead is unlikely to cost, and the best defence may be clearer once you have seen dummy. Either of these options should see the defenders cash their black suit winners, then wait for the ace of diamonds.

But West elected to lead her singleton diamond. East won the ace and pondered. Should she switch to her spade? There was a danger that partner might cash two spades and lead a third, hoping that East had a trump honour to overruff dummy. Should she cash the ace of clubs? Given dummy’s singleton that should get a suit preference signal from partner. A low club would indicate that she wanted a diamond because she could overruff declarer. A high club would ask West to switch to a spade. Eventually West decided to return a diamond, hoping that partner could overruff declarer, South brightened visibly, ruffed high, drew trump ending in dummy, discarded all five spades on diamonds and led a club towards the king for the overtrick.