East has just taken the setting trick. How could North and South have done better? How would you apportion (in percentages) the blame between North and South? Submit your comments to: You Be the Judge

The Public Responds

Silus Aureus: The first error was made by South on the 3rd trick when he didn't win with his A. He could have followed that with his A and another spade. East would have had only one more trump to ruff with.

Dustin: There are 3 errors made on this deal. South made the first error of not going up with the ace of hearts on Trick 3...

Mario: They got set cause South tried a finesse in the wrong suit. He needs to spauash the offender from trumping more clubs in my opinion.

Yes, quite. Any way you say it, spades must be led, and led quickly. South must take the A at Trick 3. In fact, it is even possible to set East/West at this point:

Mario: If South gets the lead from the A and underleads the A they are sooo set.

Dustin: South should then lead a low spade to North's king. A spade return picks up the entire spade suit (with the jack finesse). East-West could only score one club ruff, the ace of clubs, 2 diamonds and a heart for 5 tricks.

Spoken with the confidence of a judge who sees all four hands. But at the table, the low-spade lead could be suicidal. If East began life with K87, South has found a way to set his own side. East still gets three spade tricks to go with his team's five side-suit winners. Only the play of the A followed by another spade safely neutralizes both Kxx and Qxxx in the East hand.

For those who missed South's error at Trick 3, there was still plenty to carp about.

Ruffkid: Well... Trick 7 was the key killer! To trump with the 10 here was a real anomalie.

Dustin, Silus and others agree. However...

Dustin: Even after South played low on trick 3, North-South's bid can still easily be made. On Trick 7, North should have gone in with the K rather than the 10. A low spade lead at that point will clear the spade suit by means of South's jack finesse.

Sorry, no peeking. We learned last week of the hazards of trumping high to stop an overruff. The high ruff works here, but what if East had the A (and South QJx)? If that were the case, trumping with the king is just as futile as using the ten. It is really unnecessary to take any risk in the trump suit at Trick 7. There is a better way.

Silus Aureus: On trick 7, North knew East was trumping clubs, so he should have trumped with his highest or not at all. If he doesn't trump, his only other choice would be to sluff a heart, which means East's Queen of Hearts would be useless.

Ruffkid: Take the percentage discard of the 10.

Yes, the heart discard is theoretically the better play, and it works quite well here.

Some of our judges now spent a lot of time examining South's play of the ace of hearts at Trick 8. Should he have ducked hearts a second time? South's actual play seems reasonable to me, especially under time pressure. So let's proceed to the next step. How do we apportion the blame?

Ruffkid: To assess blame or fix blame or talk about this hand in some post mortem... any partner would agree that the ten of spades deserves the whole enchilada.....100% on North.

Dustin: South clearly made the most costly error by not playing the ace of hearts on trick 3. Still, North did make the minor error of not cutting with the king of spades on trick 7. South then made a second error of not playing a low heart on trick 8. On a percentage scale, I'd say that South is accountable for 80% of the blame and North is accountable for the other 20%.

Silus Aureus: I say the ratio of blame is 2 to 1, with the majority of the blame on South. In other words, I apportion about 67% of the blame to South and 33% to North.

And so the court has reached its verdict. It's a split decision, but it is clear that North and South each contributed to their mutual downfall. They are sentenced to play their next 25 Spades games parding each other. Next case.

So far N/S have won five tricks and E/W have won four. We'd better have a look at the 4-card ending.

The result: One bag apiece. Could either side have done better? Avoid a bag or gain a set? Submit your comments to: You Be the Judge

The Public Responds

This Exhibit generated little enthusiasm.

Dustin: All that needs to happen for North-South to set, is for South to overtrump Trick 11 with the 9. A club lead from South allows North to pick up the last two spades for the set.

Ruffkid: South's failure to overruff [at Trick 11] cost a set.

At this point our distinguished panelists turned to West's play at Trick 11. He should have led a spade, they say, to ensure his side's bid. This is not relevant. Spades is a game of taking advantage of our opponents' inaccurate plays.

Our judges did not consider North's heart plays, which indicated to South that North was not looking for a set. The court dismisses all charges against South and recesses for a 3-hour lunch.