The bidding was standard and the contract appeared to be sound. West started things off by leading the queen of spades. South covered with the king and East won the ace.
Looking at all four hands it is fairly clear that East need to switch to the jack of diamonds in order to defeat four hearts. If, instead, he returns a small spade, West will win the ten but will find himself unable to mount an attack on the diamonds. How does East, seeing only his hand and the dummy, know to make this switch?
It is really very simple. Even though the general rule is to return your partner's opening lead, a defender has to think about where the defensive tricks will come from against the contract being played. In this case, South is known to have five hearts and three or four clubs. This knowledge comes from the bidding. The opening lead marks West with three, four or five spades. If West had less than four, South would have at least four spades. This does not seem likely. It is much more likely that South has two or three spades, which will leave him with a possible two or three diamonds.
This being the case, you know that you will regain the lead with the ace of hearts, so play the jack of diamonds at trick two. No matter what declarer does, he will lose two spades, a heart and a diamond.
Whenever declarer has a long suit in dummy that will provide tricks after trumps are gone, the defenders have to work out a way to get their tricks quickly in order to avoid having them disappear.
District 5 of the American Contract Bridge League sponsored the All American Regional Bridge Tournament from May 24 to 31 in Independence. The following players were successful in their respective events on May 27. Other results where listed in previous columns, more will appear next week.
Two Session Open Pairs (64 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Bernard Fudor, Murrysville, PA, and Ernie Retetagos, Pittsburgh, PA. 2. Craig Biddle, Eastlake, and Warren Oberfield, Pittsburgh, PA. Stratum B. 1. Mark Bullimore, Columbus, and Michael Abramson, Akron. 2. Richard Sanders, Copley, and Douglas Duker, North Benton. Stratum C. 1. Kathleen Frindt, Avon Lake, and Patricia Kolecki, Avon. 2. Sandra Foley, Akron, and Paul Hanke, Stow.
Afternoon Side Game Series 1 (32 pairs). Stratum A. 1. Edia Shai, University Heights, and Albert Freeman, Cleveland. 2. Susan Goodman and Terry Mays, Brandenton, FL. Stratum B. 1. Gordon Berry, Chagrin Falls, and Russell Stanbaugh, Gates Mills. 2. Nita Rome and Esther Bober, Akron.
Afternoon Non Life Master Pairs (17 pairs). Strata A & B. 1. Clarence and Martha Kistemaker, Cleveland. 2. Mildred and Del Rohr, Canal Fulton. Stratum C. 1. Lynne Rudolph, Pepper Pike, and Sarajane Goldstein, Beachwood. 2. James Wise, Cambridge Springs, PA, and Melvin Skol, Erie, PA.
Evening Side Game Series 2 (24 Pairs). Strata A & B. 1. Gary Montain, Westlake, and Kerry Davidson, North Olmsted. 2. Murray Rosenthal, Colpey, and John Thorn, Akron. Stratum C. 1. Dilip Manjar and Richard Sweet, Mentor. 2. Jack and Laura Hoskins, Avon, IN.
Evening Non Life Master Pairs (14 pairs). 1. Joseph Landry,
Vineland, Ontario, Canada, and Joan Kearns, Stow. 2. Ildiko
Baxter, Cleveland Heights, and Marilyn Doman, Chagrin Falls.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.
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