Contract Bridge

It’s not difficult to make six hearts on this deal after West leads the six of spades. You win the spade with the ace, play the K- Q of trump and cash three diamonds, discarding your spade loser on dummy’s third diamond.

Next you trump the jack of spades, lead a low club toward dummy and, if West follows low, play the eight. In the actual case, East wins the eight with the jack but is then forced to return a club into dummy’s A- Q or yield a ruff- and- discard by returning a spade. Either way, you’re home free.

By clearing your own hand and dummy of spades and diamonds at the outset, you ensure that you cannot be defeated regardless of the location of the king, jack or ten of clubs. The element of luck is totally eliminated.

Now let’s suppose that West’s opening lead had been the ten of clubs instead of a spade. This would have foiled your chance to endplay East in the manner shown, but it still wouldn’t stop you from making the slam. You’d win the club with the ace, cash the K- Q of trump and A- K- Q of diamonds, discarding the five of clubs from your hand, then lead the four of clubs toward your only remaining club, the nine.

East would win the club with the jack and could safely return a spade, but you’d still have the Q- 8 of clubs in dummy to lead through East’s K- 6. This would enable you to establish a club trick in dummy on which you’d eventually discard your spade loser, and in that way you would also make the slam.