Contract Bridge

From a pairs championship comes this deal where at most tables the contract was six diamonds. Not all the declarers were successful, however, going down one when they failed to play the hand correctly.

At those tables where the slam failed, the play followed essentially the same lines. West led the king of spades, won by declarer with the ace. South could not afford to tackle trumps at once, since the defense would win and cash a spade trick, so he led a heart to the jack and continued with the A- K, discarding dummy’s remaining spade.

When declarer next led the ten of diamonds, West took the ace and returned a heart. Dummy ruffed, and East overruffed with the nine to sink the slam.

West’s heart return was certainly not difficult, since the play of that suit had marked declarer with the A- KQ-x of hearts. West simply had to hope his partner could overruff dummy.

Those declarers who made the slam adopted a more cautious approach to the play. They recognized that the lead of a fourth round of hearts by either defender would put the slam in danger. So to cater to that possibility, after taking the J- A- K of hearts, they next cashed dummy’s A- K of clubs and discarded the queen of hearts! Then, and only then, did they lead a high trump to force out the ace and so make the slam.

Note that those declarers who failed in six diamonds also would have gone down had the East-West hands been reversed. In that case, assuming a spade lead followed by three rounds of hearts and the ten of diamonds, East would win with the ace and return a heart for West to ruff to produce the same result.