Contract Bridge

Here is a typical example of the lengths to which a careful declarer will go to give himself the maximum chance for the contract.

West leads the jack of diamonds against six spades. Declarer sees that the slam is cold if the missing diamonds are divided 3-2. So, from the start, he focuses all his attention on guarding against a 4-1 diamond division.

His first step in this direction is to take the opening trick with dummy’s ace. This leaves him in a position to finesse against the 10-x-x in either opponent’s hand if the suit is divided 4-1.

After East follows low, South has no way of knowing which defender, if either, has the remaining three diamonds. Declarer then draws trumps, ending in dummy, and plays a low club. He hopes East has the ace, because if he does, the contract is certain.

After East plays low, South wins with the king, marking East with the ace. Declarer then cashes the K-A of hearts and his last two trumps, bringing about this position:

South now cashes the king of diamonds to guard against West having started with four diamonds. If East shows out, South has a proven finesse against West.

But when West shows out,

declarer still has things under control. He leads a club, forcing East to win with the ace and return a diamond, and again the slam is home.