After a fairly standard auction, West led the top of his six card spade suit. Declarer allowed this trick to come around to the king in hand and led the king of hearts to trick two.
It appears that declarer will lose the ace of hearts and one or two club tricks, depending on how that suit is played. Can the defense make this hand difficult for South?
Sid Borison of Beachwood sat East and won the second trick with the ace of hearts. He then led the four of clubs to trick three. South played the two and West, Nick Ogan of Moreland Hills, won the queen. The jack of spades came back. Declater called for the ace and Borison trumped with the nine of hearts. The ace of clubs was the fourth trick for the defense and what appeared to be an ice cold contract was down one.
We are taught that a defender should not underlead a non- trump ace while defending against a trump contract. The exception to that rule is that you may do so when it is right. Knowing when that time has come is the hard part. Jim Novak of Solon will direct a new duplicate bridge game every Thursday evening at 6:45 pm starting April 12 at the Solon Senior Center, 35000 Portz Parkway, Solon. For partnerships and other information, call (440)-248-3983. The Spring North American Bridge Championships were held in St. Louis, MO from March 8 to March 18. Congratulations to all of the local area players who were successful in their respective events. Other results were listed last week.
March 12
Susan Hall of Cleveland and Stephanie James of Chagrin Falls were fifth in Stratum B of the Afternoon 299er Pairs and were members of the team that was first in Stratum A of the Evening 299 Swiss Teams. Jan Assini and Peter Grover of Aurora were members of the team that finished second in Bracket 2 of the Compact Knock Out Teams.
March 13
James and Carolyn Sullivan of Richfield were sixth in Stratum A in the Afternoon Side Game. Philip MacFarlane of Parma, Barbara Kotton of Beachwood, Nicholas Ogan of Moreland Hills, and Chantal Whitney of Shaker Heights were first in Stratum C of the Stratified Swiss Teams. Pamela Jones of Shaker Heights, Barbara Cunliffe of Bentleyville, Stephanie James of Chagrin Falls, and Susan Hall of Cleveland were first in Bracket 10 of the Russell Stover Knock Out Teams.
March 14
Kenneth Kranyak of Bay Village and Molly O'Neill of Ft. Lauderdale, FL were 34th in the Rockwell Mixed Pairs.
March 15
Nicholas Ogan of Moreland Hills and Barbara Kotton of Beachwood were fifth in Stratum B of the Afternoon Side Game.
March 16
Barbara Kotton of Beachwood and Chantal Whitney of Shaker Heights finished fifth in Stratum B of the Afternoon Side Game. Jan Assini of Aurora was a member of the team that finished third in Bracket 2 of the Compact Knock Out Teams.
March 17
Sharon Fairchild of Rocky River and Jim Kirkham of San Bernardino, CA were third in Stratum A of the Afternoon Side Game. Chantal Whitney of Shaker Heights and Barbara Kotton of Beachwood were fourth in Stratum B of the same event.
March 18
Laurie Kranyak of Bay Village and Kathleen Sulgrove of Twinsburg were members of the team that finished fourth in the Machlin Women's Swiss Teams.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon. To reach Harvey Bernstein: hjb0416@yahoo.com