Is it the right card or accurate timing?

By Phillip Alder

Oscar Wilde said, “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”

However, even when you seem to have the winning cards, the order in which you play them can be critical. This deal, for example, takes careful handling by South to bring home his four-spade contract. What should he do after West leads the diamond king and continues with a second diamond?

Despite his unappealing hand, North should raise spades for two reasons: It makes life harder for the opponents and lets partner know about the eight-card or better fit.

South apparently has only three losers: one diamond and two clubs. But he needs to establish the club suit and is in danger of running out of trumps. For example, after ruffing the second diamond, if declarer draws trumps, he has only one left. He loses a club trick, is forced to ruff another diamond with his last trump and watches the defenders take two more diamond tricks when in with their second club winner.

Instead, South must draw only two rounds of trumps before turning to clubs. (If the defender with the last trump can ruff the third round of clubs, the contract had no chance.) Let’s say East wins and plays a diamond. Declarer ruffs and leads another club. West can take that trick and play a diamond, but South can ruff it in the dummy, cross to his hand with a heart, draw West’s last trump and claim.

That was tough. Even harder was West’s finding a low-club shift at trick two; or East’s overtaking at trick one and shifting to the club king.