Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell, Feb 16, 2007

The bidding

There are numerous ways to show the North hand. In basic Standard American bidding, the jump to game promises decent trump support and 12–15 points. 

The play

You count one loser in each suit. So, you plan to pull trump and take the Club finesse and the Spade finesse. Easy! Surely one of the two will work. Well, neither works, and down you go. What rotten luck you have! 

If you study the hand more closely, you will realize you don’t need to finesse except for an overtrick! Win the opening lead in your hand and play the Ace and another Spade. West is in and leads another Diamond. You win in dummy and play the good Spade, discarding your Diamond loser. This leaves you with a maximum of three losers and your contract. All that was required was spending a little time at trick one. Have you heard me say that before?

Questions: gary@smabridge.com 

Lessons: 152-6351.