BRIDGE

Whenever a player becomes declarer, he must give his assignment the closest attention possible. He must have his objective clearly in mind when he starts to play, and must form a preliminary plan that he intends to follow. Of course, he must also be prepared to deviate from the original plan when and if the circumstances change.

Plays hastily made before a plan of attack is formulated can often lead to disaster. Witness this hand where South reached three notrump on the bidding shown.

West led a diamond, and after playing low from dummy, declarer won East’s seven with the eight. He could count nine tricks consisting of four spades, a heart, three diamonds and a club. The only trouble was that the tricks were easier to count than to take.

The four spade tricks proved impossible to collect. If declarer cashed the Q-J, he would have no way of reaching dummy’s A-K, while if he cashed the queen and then overtook the jack, he would score only three spade tricks.

South adopted the latter line of play and then took a club finesse. West won with the king and returned the ten of clubs, and declarer eventually finished down one.

What happened to South should not have come as a surprise. The problem of collecting four spade tricks should have engaged his attention before he won the first diamond with the eight.

What South should have done was to win the first diamond with the king (or ace), and next cash the Q-J of spades and ace of diamonds. A diamond towards the J-9 would then assure an entry to dummy, and nine tricks would be there for the taking.