Contract Bridge

In the majority of deals, the most important period of the play comes early in the hand. That’s when declarer takes the time to assess his prospects and formulates a plan that will give him the best chance for the contract.

To this end, he tries to organize the play in such a way as to succeed if the opposing cards are normally divided, while at the same time, he tries to cater to the possibility that the cards may not be normally divided.

Consider this deal where, after the opening diamond lead, South has eight sure tricks, and his best chance for developing a ninth trick lies in clubs. If, after taking East’s king with the ace at trick one, declarer next cashes the A- K of clubs, hoping for a normal 3-2 division, he winds up scoring only the eight tricks he started with.

Instead, he should lead a club to the ace at trick two and return a low club toward his J- 6. This guarantees the contract against any lie of the opposing clubs. Let’s take the actual case first.

If East goes up with the queen of clubs, South scores four club tricks instead of only two. If East does not take the queen, South’s jack wins, and again he makes four clubs by continuing the suit.

If West holds the Q-10-x-x of clubs, the outcome is the same. West’s club holding is revealed when East shows out at trick three, and after losing the jack to the queen, declarer has no trouble making four notrump with the aid of a subsequent club finesse.

So, no matter how you slice it, South can assure the contract by employing a safety play at trick three. At the same time, the recommended approach yields at least 10 tricks even if the clubs turn out to be divided 3-2.