BRIDGE PUZZLE

TWO EXTRA CHANCES

North-south vulnerable, West deals

Opening lead: Ace of ♥

Pre-empts in the heart suit never seem to matter much when the opponents have spades. They almost always get to spades even if they stretch a little to get there. This is sometimes referred to, jokingly, as “accepting the transfer”. Neither North nor South did any stretching in today’s deal and they quickly arrived in four spades. Making it, however, was another story.

West started with two high hearts and then shifted to a spade. South won in dummy with the queen and then drew trumps by cashing the ace and king in his hand. The contract seemed to depend on the two-way guess for the queen of diamonds. South spotted an extra chance. West was certain to hold the ace of clubs for his opening bid. Should West have started with the singleton ace, there would be enough discards available on the clubs to avoid the diamond guess.

South led a low club away from his king to dummy’s queen. There was no singleton ace, but South saw that a doubleton ace would be just as good. He continued with a club to his king and West’s ace. West was forced to lead a diamond or yield a ruff-sluff and, thanks to the 3-3 split in diamonds, South had his contract either way. Well done!