Chattanooga Times Free Press

Bridge

BY PHILLIP ALDER

The North-South hands contain no voids, only one singleton and just 19 combined points, but the declarer brought home his five-diamond contract.

Cover the East-West cards. West took two top spades and shifted to a heart. Declarer drew trumps in three rounds, West having a singleton. How should South have continued?

Three diamonds was a brave bid, but the secondary club support strengthened the hand. Five spades doubled costs 500 if North gets a heart ruff.

To make his contract, declarer had to play the club suit for no losers. There were two chances: West had a singleton king or East a singleton jack. In the former case, South needed to cash dummy’s club ace, then finesse East out of his jack. In the latter, declarer had to lead the queen from hand, pinning East’s jack and finessing West out of his king.

Given that West had a singleton diamond, it was unlikely he had a singleton club as well. South played for East to hold the singleton club jack. After drawing trumps, he led the club queen from his hand. When the jack appeared from East, South claimed his contract.

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2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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