Contract in Jeopardy

Grief upon this Christmas Wreath,

Poked by the pain of the pine,

Once the lights held glow,

Cracked bulbs now never shine.

The spade lead puts South in danger of losing a spade, a diamond and two trump tricks. A club or a diamond lead would have been much more helpful.

South won with the ªA, led the §4 to the §A at trick two and finessed the §J next. When this scored South discarded dummy’s spade on the §K. The fall of the §Q did declarer no harm. He ruffed his spade loser and played the ©A and another heart to land his game.

This play is superior to the ruffing finesse in clubs. With diamond to loose and two likely trump losers, declarer cannot afford to lose a black trick. The ruffing finesse loses when East has the §Q and also puts the contract in jeopardy when West has the §Q, for then South has to ruff twice in dummy. Which risks an overuff and may lead to an extra trump loser.

 What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus. 

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