Some deals offer everyone chances

Albert Szent-gyorgyi, a Hungarianamerican biochemist and Nobel Prize winner who shot himself in the arm during World War I so that he could finish his medical studies, said, “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.”

In bridge, if everyone had the same thoughts, the bidding and play of a given deal would always be the same. But, of course, that doesn’t happen. Also, several deals give both sides, declarer and the defense, a chance to do something clever.

Today, we will look at the declarerplay in this deal. Tomorrow, we will turn to the defenders. South is in five diamonds. How should he plan the play after West cashes two spade tricks, then shifts to a heart?

The bidding was complicated. North had to pass on the first round because he had no five-card suit and was too short in hearts for a takeout double. North’s second-round two-spade cue-bid showed a strong hand: at least a good 12 points opposite South’s balancing double. North’s three-spade cue-bid was an unsuccessful attempt to get into three no-trump.

To make the contract, South had to play the trump suit without loss. Who had the diamond queen?

Declarer counted up the high-card points. He had 15, and dummy held 13. That left only 12 outstanding, but since West had opened the bidding, he had to have the diamond queen.

South played a diamond to his king at trick four, then ran the diamond jack through West. When that won, declarer drew the last trump and claimed.