Contract Bridge

There are many deals where declarer tries to shape his play so that a particular defender cannot gain the lead at a critical time. Today’s hand provides a typical example.

When the deal occurred,

South won West’s spade lead with the king and, since he couldn’t make nine tricks without developing the diamond suit, next led a diamond toward dummy. West’s queen was covered by the king and ace, whereupon East returned the jack of hearts.

Declarer was now a dead duck regardless of what he did. In practice, he finessed the queen, losing to West’s king, and won the heart continuation with the ace. A diamond was then conceded to the jack, and East cashed three more hearts to score a two-trick set.

South’s undoing came at trick two, when he covered West’s queen of diamonds with the king. After the queen appeared, South should have realized that he could guarantee the contract by playing low instead!

If West had the Q-J doubleton, East would have to win the queen with the ace, establishing dummy’s remaining diamonds. If West had the A-Q doubleton, the queen would win, but West could not then effectively attack hearts from his side. This would be equally true if West had the A-Q-J.

Finally, if West had the singleton queen, no harm could come from playing low, but the contract might be lost by playing dummy’s king, as evidenced by what happened in the actual deal. Thus, every threat could be defused by withholding the king, rendering the defense helpless.

While it’s true that the recommended play would lose a trick if West had the A-Q doubleton, this is of no import. As always, the object is to make the contract, and declarer should take whatever steps are necessary to achieve that goal.

Tomorrow: Partnership rapport.