Bridge

Opening lead — five of spades.

Everyone knows that each player is dealt 13 cards and that each suit contains 13 cards, but many players neglect to take full advantage of this knowledge. If they referred to that magic number more often, they would find that the play of the cards is not nearly as difficult as it sometimes seems to be.

Here is a simple exercise utilising the number 13. East wins the opening spade lead and continues the suit, South ruffing with the ace of diamonds. Declarer next plays the king of trumps, on which East shows out.

It is only trick three, but South already knows a great deal about the unseen hands. He knows that West started with exactly one spade and four diamonds, and also knows from the bidding that West has five or more hearts headed by the ace and most likely the jack.

At least 10 of West’s cards are consequently known to be lodged in three suits, which is merely a different way of saying that West has at most three clubs.

All declarer has to do now is to take advantage of this knowledge. He should realise that if he simply draws trumps and then plays a low heart to the queen, he will very likely lose two heart tricks and go down one.

To stop this from occurring, he should cash the A-K of clubs, then lead a low trump to the 10 and ruff a club. This eliminates West’s clubs.

South next draws West’s last two trumps, reducing all hands to four cards, and plays the king of hearts. West, with only the A-J-9-8 of hearts left, must win with the ace and return a heart, allowing declarer to score the 10. If West doesn’t take the first heart, he makes South’s task even easier.