Contract Bridge

The ability to count to 13 is obviously important in bridge, but utilizing this ability at the proper moment is quite another thing. Here is an example that illustrates the kind of difference simple arithmetic can make.

West led a spade against seven notrump after North checked for aces and kings via the Gerber Convention. South could count 12 sure tricks — three in each suit. The 13th trick had to come from either hearts or clubs, and the problem was how to guard against the possibility that both suits might break unfavorably.

South began by cashing three spade tricks, discarding a club from dummy. When East pitched a diamond on the third spade, declarer learned that West had started with six spades.

South next cashed the A-Q-K of hearts, learning that West had also started with four hearts. Then, to find out how many clubs West had started with, declarer cashed the K-A of diamonds. When

West followed to both, 12 of West’s original 13 cards became known, and the only question remaining was whether West had one club or none.

So declarer next cashed the ace of clubs, and, when West followed suit, West’s original distribution — 6-4-2-1 — was confirmed. Accordingly, South led the ten of clubs from dummy and played low from his hand after East followed low. The finesse succeeded, as declarer knew it would, and South made the grand slam.

Now let’s suppose declarer had cashed the A-Q of clubs earlier in the play, as many might have done before testing the other suits. In that case, South would have discovered that East had the J-xx-x of clubs, but there would then have been no way to recover, and the grand slam would have gone down the drain.