Daily Bridge Club

If it looks tough

“Stockmayer’s Theorem” (an adjunct to Murphy’s Law): “If it looks easy, it’s tough. If it looks tough, it’s probably downright impossible.”

In today’s deal, South became declarer after a contentious auction. East would have been down one at four spades, losing a club and three hearts, but South was reluctant to let his opponents play at a vulnerable game when five diamonds might succeed or, at worst, be a cheap sacrifice.

West led a spade, and South ruffed East’s ace. The play looked easy enough — it seemed South had to find West with the king of trumps and then hold his club losers to two — but it got tougher when South let the jack of trumps ride at Trick Two and saw East discard.

South cogitated but finally concluded that the contract was impossible.

“You get a trump and two clubs,” South announced. East-West hastily accepted his concession of down one.

Just because a contract looks impossible doesn’t mean that no way exists to make it. Could you make five diamonds?

South has three unavoidable losers, but he can focus instead on winners. After South’s jack of trumps wins, he can proceed thus: heart to dummy, spade ruff, heart to dummy, spade ruff, trump to dummy, queen of hearts, heart ruff (as, luckily for declarer, West must follow suit). South then takes the ace of clubs. He has won 10 tricks, and dummy still has the ace of trumps to furnish one more. West’s trump trick and East’s two club tricks fall together at the end. That wasn’t so tough, was it? North dealer E-W vulnerable