Contract Bridge

You are declarer with the West hand at Six Spades, and North leads the four of clubs. How would you play the hand? West East

♠ A K J 10 8 4 ♠ Q9752 ♥ J9 ♥ AQ

♦ A94 ♦ KJ3

♣ A2 ♣ K83 ***

This is strictly a percentage problem. There is no way to guarantee the slam, but there is one approach that gives you the best chance for the contract. Three different lines of play stand out, and they all start the same way. You win the club lead with the ace, draw trump, cash the king of clubs and ruff a club.

Line No. 1: You take a heart finesse. If the queen loses to the king and a heart is returned, you next lead a diamond to the ace and a diamond back, finessing the jack.

This approach wins if North has either the king of hearts or queen of diamonds. It offers about a 75% chance of success.

Line No. 2: You cash the A- K of diamonds. Assuming the queen does not fall, you then continue with the jack of diamonds.

If South has the queen, school is out because he must return a heart or yield a ruff- and- discard. But if North has the queen of diamonds, he wins and returns a heart. You take the finesse, and the outcome depends on who has the heart king.

This line of play succeeds if either opponent has the singleton or doubleton queen of diamonds, if South has the queen of diamonds, or if North has the king of hearts. The overall chance of success is about 78%.

Line No. 3: You play the ace of hearts followed by the queen. If South has the king, it’s all over, because he must lead a diamond or yield a ruffanddiscard.

If North has the king of hearts, he is forced to return a diamond. If he has either the queen or ten, or both, you make the contract by following low from dummy. Thus, if North has 10-x-x and leads a low diamond, South’s queen is trapped. If North returns the ten instead, you cover with dummy’s jack to make the contract.

If North has the queen of diamonds, the outcome is the same. You follow low from dummy, take South’s ten with the ace and then finesse the jack.

This method of play succeeds if South has the king of hearts or if North has either the ten or queen of diamonds, or both. It offers about an 87% chance of success, failing only when North has the heart king and South the queen and ten of diamonds.