Contract Bridge

The Bread-And-Butter Hands

In the ordinary course of events, declarer will encounter a number of deals where his contract is sure to make regardless of how the opponents’ cards are divided and how he chooses to play them. Such hands are sometimes called pianolas.

In other hands that also are certain to succeed, a moderate amount of skill may be required to protect against the possibility of defeat. These are the hands that appeal to the real student of the game.

Today’s deal is from that class. South is sure to make three notrump against any distribution of the opponents’ cards, provided he takes a few necessary precautions.

Dummy’s long diamond suit is good for six tricks unless one defender has four or five diamonds to the jack. Declarer’s primary concern, therefore, is to guard against an unfavorable diamond break.

The first productive step is taken when West’s king-ofspades lead is allowed to win. Refusal to take the trick acts as a barrier to the continuation of that suit and prevents the spade suit from later being run against declarer. This could happen if the ace were taken at trick one and East later gained the lead to return a spade through the J-8.

Let’s assume West shifts to a heart at trick two. South takes care to win with the king, cashes the ace of diamonds and leads the queen. After West follows, declarer overtakes the queen with the king to guard against the possibility that West may have been dealt the J-x-x-x of diamonds.

This protective step may cost declarer a trick, but it guarantees scoring at least five diamond tricks, thereby assuring the contract. The diamond ten is next led, and at least nine tricks become a certainty.

Overtaking the diamond queen may seem wasteful, but since it insures against any possibility of defeat, it is clearly the right play.