BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

How would you play the west hand in 4 ♠ , after South had opened 1 ♥ , and North leads ♥ 3? i’Ve been preaching the importance of making safety plays as declarer and i must finish by putting this topic in perspective.

if playing high-stakes rubber or an important team’s match, you do not, or should not, jeopardise a 100 per cent contract for the sake of a couple of overtricks that may have only a 75 per cent chance of success. That’s just bad bridge.

But if you always adopt the same safety line at Pairs, your results are likely to suffer because safety generally involves catering for the most adverse lie of the cards, which will often be very much against the odds.

Pairs events are great fun, but the strategy is very different from other forms of bridge. it is generally wisest to follow the maxim of playing with the field. in the above illustration, everyone is likely to ruff the lead, draw trumps and cash six clubs to claim all the tricks. This will succeed 95 per cent of the time, but you go down when north holds all the outstanding trumps.

Making the safety play of finessing ♠ 9 at Trick Two to cater for this 5 per cent chance would certainly earn you a bottom!