Bridge

In the club lounge, a player asked me if I could guess who the best male and female bridge players were in her family.

“Obviously, my husband is the best male player,” she said. “He’s a Gold Life Master and proud of it. But the best female player is the dog. I know, because every time I go down in a contract, my husband tells me our dog could have made it.”

My friend was today’s South in a matchpoint duplicate event.

“I thought my jump to four hearts was clear,” she told me, “but even though the dummy hit with an ace, four trumps and a singleton, the contract was no laydown. West led a spade, and I took the ace and cashed the A-K of trumps. When East discarded, I took the A-K of diamonds, ruffed a diamond in dummy, ruffed a spade and ruffed my last diamond.

“I ruffed another spade for my ninth trick, but that was all I took. When I led a club next, West won and cashed the queen of trumps, and East won the last two tricks with the A-K of clubs. “My husband said our dog would have made short work of the contract, but I don’t see how even Fifi could have avoided four losers.”

South indeed had four losers. To make the contract, she can assemble 10 winners. At Trick Two, South must make the essential play of ruffing a spade. She takes the high trumps and proceeds thus: A-K of diamonds, diamond ruff, spade ruff, diamond ruff. Declarer then ruffs dummy’s last spade, to which West must follow, and has won 10 tricks: The defenders’ three club tricks and West’s trump trick are compressed into the last three tricks.