Contract Bridge

Queen of Clubs

Assume you’re declarer at four spades and West leads the queen of clubs. There seems to be nothing to the play, so you win with the ace and cash the ace of trumps. Unfortunately, East shows out, and you must now lose three trump tricks, as well as the ace of hearts, and go down one. Furthermore, the outcome would have been the same had you won the club lead with the king and led a trump from dummy at trick two. Yet, if you study the matter more closely, it becomes clear that the contract was ice-cold from the start and that you should have made it despite the 4-0 division. When dummy appears, it is obvious that if the missing spades are divided 2-2 or 3-1, you will make 10 or 11 tricks. Your only concern, therefore, is the possibility of a 4-0 trump break and what, if anything, can be done about it. Once you put your mind to the problem, it is not difficult to find the answer: Win the first club with the ace and lead a low trump toward dummy’s 10-2! This play guarantees that you will not lose more than two trump tricks no matter how the suit is divided. In the actual case, West cannot score more than two trump tricks, regardless of what he does. He can win the first trump lead with the queen, and later take dummy’s ten with the king, but that’s the best he can do. If East has the four missing trumps, he is equally helpless. He can win dummy’s ten with the queen at trick two, but you can later take a trump finesse to hold yourself to two losers in the suit. Come what may, the safety play at trick two overcomes every possible distribution.