ETCETERA / Bridge

WEST was very apologetic after this deal. 'I should have taken out insurance, but I judged that we had fair chances in defence,' he observed. Although it is being wise after the event, perhaps he should have sacrificed if he proposed defending as he did. Mind you, it was not all that easy for him.

North opened Two Clubs conventionally and South made the negative response of Two Diamonds. West pre- empted with Five Clubs and North bid Five Diamonds. East and South passed and so did West, but only after considerable thought - a fact that was not lost on declarer.

West led the ace of clubs and switched to his singleton heart. After winning in dummy, declarer cashed the ace of trumps and led the ten to his jack, then followed with the four of spades. This left West in a quandary. If he went in with his ace, dummy's losing heart would later go away on the queen of spades, so he played low.

Dummy's king won and, after cashing one more top heart to confirm that there was a loser in the suit, declarer re-entered his hand by overtaking the eight of diamonds with his nine and led the queen of clubs. West covered, but dummy's remaining spade was discarded. On lead, West found himself end-played. Another club would concede a ruff and discard and he could not lead a spade without allowing declarer to score a trick with his queen.

West's troubles were of his own making. He was right to defend, but he should have continued with the king of clubs at trick 2. Dummy ruffs, but now there is no way for declarer to avoid losing a spade and, eventually, a heart as well.