Contract Bridge

Detective Work Works Well

Bridge is not what you’d call a guessing game. When you have a problem, there is usually a way to figure out the right answer. There are very few guessing situations in bridge where there isn’t at least a smidgen of a clue to steer you in the right direction.

Take this case where South is in four spades and West leads the K-A of diamonds. Declarer ruffs and notes that he will almost certainly lose two clubs, so that to make the contract he must avoid losing a trump trick.

This doesn’t look like much of a chore, since the trumps are likely to be divided 2-1, but if South is by nature a cautious soul, he makes allowance for the possibility of a 3-0 trump division. This matter cannot be ignored, since if the spades are actually divided 3-0, the trump loser can still be avoided by initiating the suit correctly.

Thus, if West has the Q-6-5, the lead of the king exposes the situation and wipes out West’s potential trump trick, while if East has the Q-6-5, starting the trumps by cashing the ace first similarly overcomes the potential trump loser.

How does declarer resolve the question of whether to play the king or ace first? Obviously, he doesn’t just mentally toss a coin; he starts by looking for clues instead.

There is a strong indication that West is unlikely to have a spade void. With the A-K of diamonds and one or two of the other missing honor cards, plus a void in spades as well, he might have overcalled or doubled for takeout at his first turn to bid.

Declarer therefore plays the king of spades at trick three and is rewarded for his caution when East shows out, rendering West’s queen worthless.