Never say die

Some plays that are regarded as abnormal may become normal when they’re made in circumstances where standard procedure won’t work. Take this case where South made a seemingly hopeless contract by deviating from the norm.

West led the queen of clubs against four spades, and declarer saw at once that his chances of making the contract were decidedly poor. The opening lead indicated that East had the ace of clubs, which in turn meant that West, who had overcalled on the two-level, had to hold the ace of diamonds.

But South found a way to make his game despite the unfavorable location of the two missing aces. He ducked the queen of clubs and ruffed the ten when West continued the suit.

Recognizing that it was pointless to cross to dummy with a trump to a diamond to the king, he instead led a low diamond from his hand at trick three!

This play certainly violated the standard practice of leading toward strength instead of weakness.

But South was well aware that he had to take unusual steps to have any chance for the contract. After West played the nine of diamonds, dummy’s ten lost to East’s jack. East returned the nine of hearts, won by South with the ace.

Declarer now made his second good play when he led the six of diamonds, forcing West to win with the ace. West then exited with a club, ruffed by South.

Declarer next played three rounds of trump, ending in dummy, and returned a diamond, finessing the eight after East followed low. South then discarded a heart from dummy on his king of diamonds and so made four spades.

Note that declarer could not have made two diamond tricks had he initiated the suit by first leading low from dummy.

Tomorrow: First things first.