Save dummy's assets

Here's another interesting bridge deal from our friends at IPBA.

                ♠ A 7 2
                ♥ J 10 5 3 2
                ♦ A 6 3
                ♣ J 5
♠ Q J 9                          ♠ 4
♥ K 6                            ♥ Q 8 7 4
♦ J 10 8                         ♦ Q 9 7 4
♣ K 9 8 6 3                      ♣ Q 10 7 4
                ♠ K 10 8 6 5 4
                ♥ A 9
                ♦ K 5 2
                ♣ A 2

South opened 1♠, North raised to 3♠ and South bid 4♠.

Do you agree with North's limit raise? I do. If he bid 4♠, North-South could miss a slam on some layouts. The North hand has eight losers, the way I count them, and that is defined as a LR. There are two losers in spades, three in hearts, two in diamonds and two in clubs. That's nine losers, but I make adjustments. You have two aces, but no queens. I subtract one-half a loser for each ace and add one-half a loser for each queen. Supposedly, this version of losing trick count comes from an old book by Milton Work. I don't use it as a bible, but more as an additional tool when I'm on the fence about what to do.

West led the ♦J, and it looks like you have a loser in each suit because spades split poorly. How would you proceed?

You should win the diamond in hand, and cash the ♠K. Your next step should be to abandon trumps and lead the ♥A and another. West will win and continue with the ♦10. You should win in dummy and advance the ♥J. Suppose East covers -- over to you.

If you ruff, West will overruff, cross to East's ♦Q and another round of hearts will promote a second trump trick for the defense.

Instead, you should discard a diamond. All the defense can do is make one more trick with the queen of trumps -- the established ♥10 is available for a club discard.

Saving both of North's aces is key to making the contract. Simple when you think about it.