Contract Bridge

Declarer frequently has a choice of whether to win a trick in his own hand or in dummy. Obviously, no uniform rule can be applied to these situations — the right play depends strictly on the circumstances.

Consider the present case, where West led a spade that South could win in either hand. His potential losers were a spade, a club and either one or two hearts. It was clear that he could hold himself to one trump loser by leading a trump from dummy toward his K-Q-10, since the bidding had marked East with the ace.

So declarer took the opening spade lead with dummy’s king in order to lead a trump. But when East won with the ace and returned the queen of spades, South was in trouble. He played the ace, trumped by West, and declarer later lost a club and a spade and went down one.

South was certainly right in thinking that the first trump lead should come from dummy. But since it was almost certain from the bidding that East had six spades and West only one, declarer should have chosen his entries more carefully.

To protect against a 6-1 spade division, South should have won the spade lead in his hand, led a diamond to dummy’s king and then led a trump. East would win and return a spade, but this would no longer pose a threat.

West could ruff, but in that case dummy would play low, and South would lose only the ace of hearts, a club and a spade ruff. And if West did not ruff the spade return, dummy’s king would win, and South’s only losers would be a spade, a heart and a club.

Declarer’s choice of where to take the first trick made all the difference between winning and losing the contract.