Contract Bridge

You can’t be a good declarer unless you’re also a worrier. You have to worry about finesses that might fail, about suits that might break badly, and just about anything else your mind can conjure up.

If you don’t think along such lines, you’re sure to suffer the consequences from time to time, as South did in this deal where he went down in four hearts.

West led a club. Declarer won with the queen, drew three rounds of trump and played a club to dummy’s king, on which West showed out. South continued with the ace of clubs, discarding a spade, and then tried leading a diamond to the king. When this lost to the ace, declarer had to go down one, eventually losing three diamonds and a spade.

Had South been a worrier, he would have made his contract. He would have been concerned that the opening club lead might be a singleton, and he would have started to think about how to overcome the possible 4-1 division.

After winning the club, he would have cashed the A- Q of trump and then led a club toward dummy. If both defenders followed suit, he could then play the king of hearts to nail down 12 tricks. But if, as in the actual case, it turned out that West had no more clubs, South would still be assured of 11 tricks whether or not West ruffed.

If West did ruff, South would finish with five hearts, five clubs and a spade. And if West did not ruff, South would still wind up with 11 tricks by winning the club in dummy, ruffing a low club high and leading a trump to dummy’s king.

It’s easy to see that even with the 4-1 club division and the diamond ace offside, declarer should have made the contract. But, unfortunately, South was not the worrying kind.