Give them their desserts

Photo/ China Daily

Joss Whedon, who is perhaps best known as the creator of the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," said, "Absolutely eat dessert first. The thing that you want to do the most, do that."

At the bridge table, sometimes you need to give your opponents their just des(s)erts earlier rather than later. In this deal, how can South make four spades after ruffing West's opening lead of the club ace?

The auction could have gone many ways. And if the vulnerability had been different, surely East-West would have gone on to five clubs, which would probably have failed by one trick. (Note that North would have done best to lead a trump, trying to cut down the other side's ruffs.

First, South realizes that if trumps are 4-1 or 5-0, he has no chance. Second, he sees that he needs to establish his diamond suit; but he knows from the auction that the suit is splitting 5-0. How can he keep trump control and set up the diamonds?

If you need to gain tricks from a side suit, it is usually right to play on that suit first, and this deal is no exception. But as South knows East is void, he must lead a low diamond at trick two.

East ruffs and returns a club, but South trumps that, ruffs a diamond high in the dummy, draws trumps ending in his hand, cashes the diamond ace, and leads the diamond jack. Declarer loses only one diamond, one diamond ruff and the heart ace.

Finally, note that if West had started with three trumps and at least four clubs, the contract was unmakable.