Contract Bridge

Slow and steady wins the race

Assume you’re declarer at six spades and West leads the ten of diamonds, which you win with the ace. How would you play the hand?

At first glance, it appears that making the slam depends entirely on a successful club finesse — a straightforward 50-50 proposition. If East has the king, you make six; if West has it, you go down one. However, if you take the proper preliminary steps, you can raise your chances to about 75 percent.

The correct method of play, after taking the ace of diamonds, is to draw two rounds of trumps ending in dummy and then ruff a diamond. Next comes the A-K of hearts and a heart ruff, followed by a second diamond ruff.

At this point, the dummy has no more diamonds or hearts, and the only red card in your hand is the heart seven, which you now lead. When West follows suit with the jack, the slam becomes an absolute certainly.

Instead of trumping in dummy, which seems the normal thing to do, you discard one of dummy’s clubs! This leaves West on lead in a no-win situation. If he returns a club, it is into your A-Q, while if he leads a diamond, it allows you to discard a second club from dummy while ruffing in your hand. Either way, you score the rest of the tricks.

The recommended approach assures the contract whenever West started with the majority of the missing hearts, which will occur roughly half the time. Failing that, you still have the club finesse in reserve, giving you two chances to make the slam instead of just one.