BRIDGE PUZZLE

North-South vulnerable. South deals.

Opening lead: King of

♥

We have often presented deals where it is correct for a defender to refuse to over-ruff with a high trump. Today’s deal takes this principle to an extreme that is rarely seen.

South won the opening heart lead with his ace, cashed the ace of diamonds, and led a low spade to dummy’s queen, winning the trick. He then led a low diamond and ruffed it with the nine of spades, as West refused to over-ruff, discarding a heart instead. This was a routine decision by West and not at all what we were talking about in the opening paragraph.

The poor split in diamonds was a disappointment, but South continued with the king of spades, losing to West’s ace. West wanted to weaken dummy’s trumps, so he cashed the queen of hearts and continued with the jack of hearts. South ruffed in dummy, leaving dummy with just one trump remaining. South now led a low diamond and ruffed it with his last trump – the four.

Had West over-ruffed with the five, dummy would have been left with good diamonds and a trump to get to them. Instead, West refused to over-ruff and discarded a low club. His lowly five of trumps, though not high, left West in complete control of the deal. Declarer had no winners in his own hand other than the ace of clubs. South cashed it and ruffed a club in dummy, but West claimed the balance. He had all winners and the only remaining trump. Nice defense!