BRIDGE

Greed

The opening lead was ducked as West continued with the three-spot. Declarer played low again from dummy as East won but shifted to the five of hearts. South elected to follow with the three-spot as West scored the queen to return the jack of spades for dummy's ace. When West regained the lead with the ace of diamonds, he cashed the spade winner to earn a one-trick set.

The auction intimated that South owned spade shortness and a long and solid diamond suit. West knew that this could not be true because he held the ace of diamonds. A spade lead was strongly suggested and West selected the king in case declarer owned a singleton queen.

South had been too greedy in the play. It is clear that he expected East to own the heart queen in view of the switch but he can ensure success by winning the heart king and driving out the ace of diamonds. In the unlikely scenario that spades prove 3-3, he would emerge with an overtrick.

South should rebid 2NT, not 3NT, but this is unlikely to alter the final contract. North should simply raise to 3NT holding 10 HCP and a semibalanced patttern.

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