Contract Bridge

There are often two sides to a story, and the same can be said of many bridge hands. Consider this case where West led the diamond six against three notrump, taken by East with the ace. East returned the five of diamonds, South’s jack losing to the queen, and at this point West — a very fine defensive player — realized that it would be futile to continue the suit.

Accordingly, he switched to a low club at trick three, having decided that the best chance of stopping three notrump was to find partner with the ace or king of clubs and queen of hearts. That holding was entirely possible on the bidding.

No truer arrow was ever shot! East’s king forced declarer’s ace, and South could do no better than attempt a heart finesse. When he did, East took his queen and returned a club, and declarer went down one, losing two diamonds, a heart and two clubs.

After giving West full credit for his club shift at trick three, the unalterable fact remains that failing to make the contract was South’s own fault — and that’s the other side of the story.

South blundered badly when he finessed the jack of diamonds at trick two. He was playing with fire, and he ultimately got burned. South could have assured making three notrump by winning the second diamond with the king and finessing the nine of hearts.

If the finesse lost and East did not have a diamond to return, South would make five notrump. If the finesse lost and East did have a diamond to return, that would mean West had started with only a four-card suit, so South would wind up making three notrump.

The normal-looking play of the diamond jack at trick two thus turned out to be both a snare and a delusion.