Contract Bridge

Trying to be a genius at the table is seldom a paying proposition because, in the long run, you will lose more points than you gain. But if you pick the right time and place for fancy doings, you will occasionally score a spectacular triumph.

Take this case where South arrived at four spades and West led the jack of clubs. It appeared to declarer that the outcome depended entirely on whether the trump finesse would succeed, because if it failed, the defense was almost certain to shift to hearts and take three tricks in that suit before he could discard two hearts on dummy’s minorsuit winners.

But South also spotted a way that he might steal the contract even if West had the king of spades. Accordingly, he won the club lead with the king and continued with the ace, on which he discarded the seven of diamonds!

This unusual discard had its intended effect. When West next took dummy’s nine of spades with the king, he shifted to the ten of diamonds, and the battle was over. Declarer won with the ace, cashed the ace of trump and queen of diamonds, then led a low trump to the eight and discarded two hearts on the K-J of diamonds to make the contract.

It’s hard to blame West for shifting to a diamond instead of a heart at trick four. Many others would have done the same thing. Usually, when declarer takes an early discard on one of dummy’s winners, he discards from a suit where he is weak rather than from one where he’s strong.

South cleverly traded upon this concept and earned the victory he achieved. Whether West should have seen through declarer’s ploy is certainly debatable, but there’s no doubt that South adopted the right strategy to give himself the best chance for the contract.