♦K 3

♣K 4 3 2

WEST EAST

♠A 10 2 ♠K J 7 5

♥K Q J 8 3 ♥10 9 4 2

♦Q 10 6 5 ♦9 2

♣8 ♣9 7 5

SOUTH

♠6

♥6 5

♦A J 8 7 4

♣A Q J 10 6

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1♦ 1♥ 1♠ Pass

2♣ Pass 2♥ Pass

3♣ Pass 4♣ Pass

5♣ Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of ♥

There are times when a horrendous distribution will sink a contract. But even normal breaks might have to be handled carefully.

North-South bid well to an excellent minor-suit game. Note that North, with only a single stopper in the enemy suit, did not insist on declaring three no trump — he could not be sure nine fast tricks were available, hence the raise to four clubs.

West led the king of hearts, taken with the ace. Declarer cashed the queen and ace of clubs and king and ace of diamonds, then tried to ruff a diamond low in dummy. East overruffed and the defenders took a heart and a spade trick — down one.

Both the 3-1 club and 4-2 diamond distributions were normal and to be expected. Because of dummy's low trump spots, the overruff should have been anticipated. Even so, with this distribution the contract cannot be defeated. The problem is that South ruffed the wrong suit first.

After winning the ace of hearts, declarer should immediately cash the king and ace of diamonds and lead a third round of the suit. When West follows, instead of ruffing declarer should discard dummy's heart loser! This loser-on-loser play leaves the defenders helpless. No matter what East-West do, declarer will be able to ruff a heart with a low trump and a diamond with the king, and lose only one trick each in spades and diamonds. (11/04/09)

e-mail: gorenbridge@aol.com