Making the most of your assets.
Bridge Column for January 20, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
East-West vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: Q 8 5 2          
                              H: 10 4        
                              D: 10 9 8    
                              C: J 7 6 3
            West                             East
            S: 10 6                          S: 9 4          
            H: A K 8 3                       H: 9 7 2     
            D: K 7 6 4                       D: J 5 3             
            C: A 10 8                        C: Q 9 5 4 2   
                              South                         
                              S: A K J 7 3
                              H: Q J 6 5    
                              D: A Q 2   
                              C: K        
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1S     Double    Pass     2C 
                   3C      Pass     3S      Pass
                   4S      Pass     Pass    Pass

     Some players may feel that the South hand should be opened
with a strong, forcing two club bid.  The rational would be that
it could very easily go Pass, Pass, Pass after opening one spade.
     For this to happen, you would have to move one of the round
suit aces from the West hand to the East hand.  But then, proper
defense would defeat four spades.
     In any event, the auction shown is very reasonable for the
actual deal.  West, on lead, starts with the king of hearts, East
playing the two.  When the king holds, West shifts to the ace of
clubs.  East plays the five and declarer drops the king.  West
continues with the ten of clubs which is ducked around to South,
who trumps.
     Trumps are drawn in two rounds and declarer plays a small
heart to the ten in dummy.  West wins the ace and the hand is
over.  Declarer wins any continuation and cashes the queen and
jack of hearts, discarding diamonds from the dummy.  The ace of
diamonds clears the last diamond from the dummy and the rest of
the tricks are won by cross trumping diamonds and clubs.
     If the ace of clubs were to be in the East hand (trade it
for the nine, for instance), the final contract would be one
spade. 
                              North
                              S: Q 8 5 2          
                              H: 10 4        
                              D: 10 9 8    
                              C: J 7 6 3
            West                             East
            S: 10 6                          S: 9 4          
            H: A K 8 3                       H: 9 7 2     
            D: K 7 6 4                       D: J 5 3             
            C: 10 9 8                        C: A Q 5 4 2   
                              South                         
                              S: A K J 7 3
                              H: Q J 6 5    
                              D: A Q 2   
                              C: K        
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1S      Pass     Pass    Pass
     While West could conceivably make a take-out double, nobody
will find fault with his 'Pass', especially at this
vulnerability.  On lead, he should open the king of hearts and
shift to the ten of clubs.  East would win the ace and shift to a
diamond.  No matter how declarer plays, he must lose another
heart and a diamond, making only three spades.
     During the play of any hand, if you, as declarer, can
determine that the majority of the defensive assets are in only
one of the defensive hands, try to time the play in such a way as
to make maximum use of that fact.  The player holding the assest
will be more vulnerable to a squeeze or end-play, which could
result in an extra offensive trick.     
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.