Bridge

The pressure principle

Opening lead — seven of hearts.

Let’s say you get to three notrump as shown, and West leads a heart. East plays the jack, which you duck, and returns the queen, which you take with the king. How would you continue?

When the deal occurred in a teamof-four match, the declarer at the first table decided that his only real chance was to try to steal a spade trick before East learned too much about the hand. So at trick three, he crossed to dummy with a club and returned the jack of spades as if he intended to take a finesse.

But East did not fall for South’s ploy. Looking at the setting tricks in his own hand, he rose with the ace and cashed his three remaining hearts to put the contract down one.

At the second table, declarer decided against trying to sneak a spade past East for two reasons: First, he didn’t think East would fall into the trap, and second, if East had three or more diamonds, the contract was ice-cold!

Accordingly, after winning the second heart lead, declarer immediately cashed four club tricks, producing this position:

When South now cashed his last club, East found himself in dire straits. He could not spare a spade or a diamond, so he was forced to part with a heart. Declarer thereupon led the spade king to establish his ninth trick, and the contract was home.