Contract Bridge

Turning Defeat Into Victory

It is not uncommon for declarer to be playing in a contract where he appears to have bitten off more than he can chew. In many cases, declarer can do nothing to salvage such contracts, but there are some occasions where careful play can turn apparent defeat into victory.

Here is such a case. South is playing in five spades, and West leads his singleton diamond. Declarer sees that his probable losers are two diamonds and a club, but he also notes that if either opponent was dealt three hearts to the queen, he can develop an extra trick by ruffing one of dummy’s hearts and so make the contract.

Accordingly, he wins the opening lead with the ace of diamonds, cashes the A-K of spades and A-K of hearts, then enters dummy with a trump to lead the nine of hearts and ruff it.

The queen does not fall, but he is not yet completely out of ammunition. He still has another chance to make the contract, and it costs him nothing to try. So at this point he leads the jack of clubs.

East wins the club with the king and makes the best defensive play of continuing with the ace. Declarer ruffs in dummy and plays the jack of hearts, on which East shows out.

South takes advantage of this favorable development by discarding one of his diamond losers on the jack of hearts. Declarer can afford to make this play, since he has two diamond losers in any case, but, more importantly, it enables him to make the contract if East started with six diamonds.

Sure enough, West, upon winning the heart with the queen, has no choice but to return a club. Declarer ruffs in dummy while discarding his remaining diamond, and the contract is home.