BRIDGE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

North dealer. North-South vulnerable.

The bidding:

North East South West 1 NT 3 [S] Pass 4 [S]

Opening Lead – queen of hearts.

In many suit contracts, declarer is faced with the threat of being overruffed b y on e of the defenders . Wh e n th e overruff seems imminent , de clarer shou ld s tud yh is options carefully before committing himself i non e directi ono r the other.

Consider South’s problem in this deal where he reach esf our spades on the biddin gs hown. Eas to vertakes West ’s q ueen-ofhearts lead with th eki ng, cashes th ea c ea nd continues with the jac ka tt rick three.

The biddin ga nd East’s first three plays combine to make it a virtual certainty tha tW est is out of heart sa tth isp oint ,a nd th eq uestion isw hether or not to ruff with the 10 . To defuse the immediate threat ,S outh could trump with th e ki n g, b ut the trouble with this is that it might promote the missin gja c ki nto a trick.

I n th ea ctual deal, if declarer trumps with either the 10 or king, he will go dow non e. Both play s es tablish a trump winner for West ,a n dw hen South later tries a clu bfi nesse, East ’sq ueen scores th ese tting trick.

If r uffing hig ho rl ow were declarer’s onl yo ptions, he could not succeed as the cards lie. But there is a third option that makes declarer a very strong favourite to finish with 10 tricks.

His best play is to discard a clu ba tt rick three instead o fa ttempting to wi nth e trick. By doin gs o ,de clarer telescopes both of h is p otential losers into one trick, leaving h imi nth e driver’s seat.

Regardless o fw hat East plays next , de clarer is home free. Another heart lead by East can be overruffed by dummy if West ruffs, aft er w hich South has the res to f the tricks.