Contract Bridge

There are many hands where declarer runs into bad luck and, as a result, cannot make the contract, regardless of what he does.

However, there are also many other hands where declarer fails, and the outcome is attributed to bad luck — but where subsequent analysis reveals that he actually contributed to his own demise.

For a good illustration, consider this deal where South was in three notrump and West led a heart. Declarer took East’s king with the ace and led a low club to dummy’s jack. East won with the ace and returned the heart deuce to South’s nine and West’s ten.

West continued with the three of hearts to the jack, but when declarer next cashed the king of clubs and

West showed out, there was no way to avoid going down one. Altogether, East-West scored three heart tricks and their two black aces.

Bad luck, South could easily say, but the plain fact is that he himself blew the contract. With proper care, he could have assured three notrump regardless of how the adverse cards were divided.

The correct play is to lead a diamond to the ten at trick two and return a low club to the king. In the actual case, East cannot afford to rise with the ace, so South wins the trick. Next comes a diamond to the king, followed by a low spade from dummy. Again, East cannot afford to go up with the ace, and South’s queen wins. Declarer then leads a club to the jack to establish his ninth trick.

The outcome is certain to be the same if West holds either or both black aces. If he does, he cannot safely return a heart, and South has all the time he needs to develop the game-going tricks. Declarer’s aim throughout is to prevent East from getting on lead early enough to lead through the J-9 of hearts.