ACES ON BRIDGE

“If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it must be a duck.”

-- Proverb

The reasons for ducking a trick are many and varied. Let’s see a deal from the finals of a pairs game at a recent U.S. Summer Nationals. It was misplayed by almost every declarer who encountered it. Can you do better? You may want to consider it as a single-dummy problem by covering up the East and West cards.

Having been pushed to three spades, how should you play this contract on the lead of the club queen? Let us assume from East’s takeout double that the most likely lie of the defenders’ cards involves a 4-1 trump break, onside. If so, you have eight easy tricks but no comfortable route to reduce your trumps, a necessary move to achieve the trump coup to allow you to score that extra trump trick in dummy.

The right line (which combines deception and technique) is to duck the first club smoothly. There is no way the defenders will be able to work out what is going on in this suit -- is there? Win the expected club continuation, and play a third club to pitch a diamond from dummy. Now lead a spade to the 10 for the immediate finesse, then play a diamond to the ace and take a diamond ruff. After a spade to the ace, as East discards, dummy is down to three trumps. You can now ruff a diamond and exit with a heart. The defenders can cash three rounds of that suit, but must then lead a plain card and allow the spade K-J to take the last two tricks.