Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell 

The bidding explained

West's double of the two Spade bid was 100% penalty oriented. It says that West expects to defeat the contract herself. There are other options available for what a double means in this situation, and this is one of its possible uses. It is important to notice that North sat very quietly and did not try to "rescue" her partner. 

The play

West leads the Club King, East signaling encouragement with the 9. You let West win the trick. West continues with the Club Queen, which you win. Now what?

It looks like you have three Spade losers and one Club and one Diamond loser, for a total of five. The only thing that can go wrong is if West can win a trick with a little Spade. If you are careless, that is what will happen. If you lead the Spade Jack, West wins and leads a third Club. You trump and lead the Spade 10. West wins with the King and can now underlead the Diamond Ace to East's King. East can then return a Club, which will promote West's Spade 7 into a trick. 

The way to avoid this is to lead a Diamond at trick three. This breaks up the communication between East and West, and you will now be able to pull all the trump and make your contract. Congratulations! You have just executed a scissors coup!


Questions: email me at gary@smabridge.com 
Lessons: Call 152-6351.