The fair advantage even for brunettes

The Bard once wrote: “Men that hazard all, Do it in hope of fair advantages.” Bridge experts strive to find fair advantages, but they prefer to do it without hazarding all.

How should South play to make six spades after West opens three clubs as dealer and leads his singleton trump?

It isn’t clear how to bid a hand like South’s. Many would double and then bid four spades, hoping to convey the message of a hand worth a little more than an immediate four spades. (However, usually a takeout double promises two four-card or longer suits -- two places to play.) Here, though, it didn’t matter, North deciding he had enough to take a shot at the slam.

At first glimpse, the slam seems to depend on a successful diamond finesse. However, experts, as has been pointed out before, hate to rely on finesses. They hunt assiduously for an alternative line that will work even if the key finesse is losing.

Here, South spotted one. As long as West’s clubs were headed by the A-Q-J, the contract was guaranteed. Declarer won the trump lead in hand, cashed three rounds of hearts ending in the dummy and called for the club 10.

When East played low, declarer discarded the diamond five. West won the trick but had no winning defense. Leading the club ace would establish dummy’s king, on which South would discard his diamond queen. Instead, if West shifted to a diamond, it would be into South’s ace-queen tenace.

Lastly, if East had produced a club higher than the 10, declarer would have been forced to fall back on the diamond finesse.*