Contract Bridge

The science of card reading

The battle for partscore hands is much more pronounced in duplicate bridge than in rubber bridge. For example, North’s vulnerable onespade bid with such a weak suit is typical of the lengths to which a duplicate player might go to contest a partscore.

The deal occurred in a tournament, and North felt he could not sell out to one heart. After the one-spade overcall, East rebid his hearts, and South was faced with a difficult decision.

He finally decided to bid two notrump, which East doubled. South’s aggressive bid might have ended in disaster had he slipped during the play, but he was up to the task and made the contract.

East won the ten-of-hearts lead with the ace and returned the jack to South’s king. Declarer now avoided the error of attacking diamonds by leading from his hand. Instead, he led a low club to the ace, rejecting a finesse that would have been fatal, and led a low diamond from dummy.

East won with the ace, and although he returned a heart to establish his suit, South collected eight tricks comprised of five diamonds, two hearts and a club.

The two pitfalls declarer avoided are both noteworthy. He realized that East, for his bidding, had to have every significant missing high card, including the diamond ace and club king.

Had South mechanically led a diamond to the queen at trick three, he would have suffered an enormous loss. But by leading a club and refusing the finesse, and then returning a low diamond from dummy, declarer catered to the possibility that East’s ace of diamonds might be singleton. This thoughtful play gave South five diamond tricks and the contract.