The Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell

The bidding explained: There is really nothing to explain about this auction. North made the value bid of 3NT since bridge is played in notrump or a major; North’s Diamond suit is not worth mentioning when he knows slam is out of the question!

The play: East plays the King and South wins the first trick with the Ace. Then South plays the Ace and King of Diamonds, getting the bad news. Abandoning Diamonds, Declarer now leads a Heart from dummy, putting in the 10. It loses to the Queen and West plays the Club Queen and another Club. South wins, plays a Diamond to the Queen and tries the second Heart finesse. Surely East was dealt one Heart honor! No such luck. West wins two Hearts and three Clubs. I think that makes it down one!

Remember please, you as declarer have one job. That job is to make your contract. Overtricks are secondary. Win the opening Club lead and lead the Diamond 10. When West plays low, play low from dummy. If the finesse works, you have lots of tricks. If it loses, you have 2 Spades, 1 Heart, 4 Diamonds and 2 Clubs. That total is ___?

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