Contract Bridge

Assume you’re in three notrump and West leads a spade. You win East’s jack with the ace, and the problem is what to do next.

Actually, there’s only one correct way to proceed, and if you find it, you get home safe and sound. You lead a low club at trick two and, after West follows low, play the ten from dummy. As the cards lie, this somewhat irregular finesse makes the contract. You eventually score four club tricks, two spades, two diamonds and a heart.

But if you lead a club to the king at trick two, instead of playing the ten, you are almost certain to finish down one.

The advantage of playing the ten from dummy is that you make four club tricks not only when the suit is divided 3-3, but also when the suit is divided 4-2 and West started with the Q-x, J-x or Q-J-x-x.

These possibilities cannot be lightly brushed aside. Thus, if you played strictly for the clubs to be divided 3-3 by cashing the K-A and continuing with a third club, you would have only a 36 percent chance of finding the suit evenly divided.

But if you play the ten from dummy at trick two, your chances improve to nearly 60 percent because of the possibility of finding West with either a doubleton honor or both honors.

In essence, the success of the contract rests on whether you make four club tricks, and leading to the ten at trick two offers by far the best chance of achieving that goal.

Tomorrow: An artful deception.