Tricks are there if you take them

Sidney Madwed, a design engineer, said, “Never value the valueless. The trick is to know how to recognize it.”

In bridge, the trick is to win the number of tricks that you need to make or break the contract. In addition, when faced with different choices, it can be a case of rejecting the losing lines — the valueless — and adopting a winning approach — the valuable.

What should South do in four hearts after West leads the spade queen?

Yes, three no-trump is easy to make, but it is tough to reach.

South starts with four potential losers: one in each suit. He could hope that the club finesse will succeed. Worse is to take the trump finesse, because that needs more than just the heart king onside. So, there is a temptation to take the first trick with dummy’s spade ace and play a club to the jack. Here, though, the finesse loses and the contract will fail.

It is a good idea for declarer, after checking losers, to count winners. How many does he have here?

There are two spades, five hearts, one diamond and two clubs — surprise, surprise, a total of 10. Is there a way to cash them all?

As you have no doubt seen, South should win the first trick with his spade king, cash the club ace (perhaps after taking the heart ace, though that does not matter here) and continue with the club jack. West takes the trick and leads another spade, but South wins on the board and discards a spade or diamond loser on the club queen. Then he draws trumps as quickly as possible.

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