Keep your eyes and brain open

When the Senior Life Master arrived to give another class, there was a considerable hubbub in the room. When the noise had subsided, the SLM began:

“I sense that the warm weather has given you renewed energy. Perhaps some of you will start playing tennis. All tennis players are told to keep their eyes firmly locked on the ball. A similar recommendation should be made to bridge players. Don’t take your eyes off the cards ... or the tricks.

“Look at the first deal on my sheets. For the moment, you can see only the North and East hands. After a simple Stayman sequence to four hearts, West leads the diamond two to your ace. How would you continue?”

The SLM paused for a minute, then continued.

“The natural reaction is to give partner a diamond ruff. But that produces only three tricks: the diamond ace, the diamond ruff and the heart king. What will be your fourth winner? If partner has a black-suit ace, there will be no problems. But if declarer has both of those aces, maybe the contract is now unbeatable.

“At trick two, you should shift to a spade, hoping to establish the fourth trick. The diamond ruff can wait.

“Now turn over to see the full deal. Note that if East returns a diamond at trick two, declarer wins West’s return and immediately plays the ace and another heart to succeed. But a spade switch establishes the king as a winner. South cannot discard dummy’s spade loser on the club ace, because he doesn’t have a hand entry.

“Always keep an eye on your target: the number of tricks needed to make or break the contract.”