Contract Bridge

Many players think that a bridge expert makes one sensational bid or play after another and wins most of his points that way. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact is that the expert’s reputation stems primarily from one source — he makes fewer mistakes than his opponents do. Seldom does he do anything really dramatic — rather, he just quietly goes about his business making precisely the right bid or play in hand after hand.

The expert’s judgment is not clouded by extraneous influences — he reasons everything out very carefully. If logic leads him to a play that appears sensational, that is not why he makes the play — he does so simply because he believes it’s the winning play under the circumstances. Today’s hand features perfect defense of the kind that many would term spectacular. It occurred many years ago in a tournament in Asheville, N.C. South got to three notrump as shown, and West (Margaret Wagar, one of the top women’s players of all time) led her fourth-best club.

Dummy’s king won, and on it East (Hal McDonald) played the jack! Declarer then led a low heart to the ace, and on it Wagar played the king!

These extraordinary plays fixed South’s wagon beyond repair. He could do no better than continue with hearts, but when East took his jack and returned the five of clubs, South went down two.

Note that if McDonald had failed to play the club jack at trick one, the suit would have become hopelessly blocked. Note also that if Wagar had not dropped her king of hearts on the ace, East could not have gained the lead for the killing club return.

Both plays were absolutely necessary to defeat the contract, but we would prefer to think of them simply as mandatory rather than sensational.