Contract Bridge

It’s all in the mind

One habit a declarer must strive to rid himself of is the temptation to treat each suit as a separate entity instead of dealing with the hand as a whole.

Take this case where declarer won the diamond lead in dummy and played the K-Q of clubs, hoping the defense would take the ace. But East uncooperatively ducked both clubs, leaving South with a hopeless task.

When declarer next led the ten of hearts from dummy, East covered with the queen, and the king lost to the ace. Back came a heart, and South could then do no better than finish with eight tricks.

Declarer lost the contract on the very first trick. He should have won the diamond lead with the ace instead of the ten rather than rely on the opponents to win the first or second club lead.

By taking the ace of diamonds at trick one, he would have made sure of reaching dummy later to cash the clubs after the ace was driven out. Thus, in the actual deal, South would play three rounds of clubs after winning the diamond lead in his hand. East would take the third club with the ace but could not harm South regardless of what he returned. Sooner or later, declarer would gain entry to dummy with a diamond.

The outcome rests entirely on South’s attitude at trick one. He should do more than woodenly allow dummy’s ten to win the first trick. Instead, he should plan the play of the hand as a whole before proceeding.