Asleep at the Switch

Opening lead — six of hearts

You can’t play bridge mechanically and expect to do well. Bridge is much too complicated a game for that.

For example, take this deal where West leads a heart against three notrump. Declarer plays low from dummy and wins East’s ten with the king. He then plays the A-Q of clubs, but West wisely follows l ow t wice as East shows out of the suit.

This is a disappointing development from South’s viewpoint, because 10 tricks would have become certain had the queen lost to the king. However, declarer still has another chance to utilize the club suit.

So he leads a low heart and, when West follows low, finesses the nine! After the nine holds, South leads the jack of clubs from dummy, forcing West to win either this club or the next one, and the contract is home.

The heart finesse is highly unusual, since declarer has three sure heart tricks and appears to be jeopardizing one of them. But the finesse is the right play because it gives declarer the extra dummy entry he needs to establish and cash dummy’s clubs.

However, it must be pointed out that West was guilty of falling asleep during the proceedings. When he followed low to the heart lead at trick four, he wasn’t thinking — which, as mentioned earlier, is a luxury one can’t afford in bridge. West should have put up the jack instead, and this play would have knocked South out of the box as the cards lie.

West can tell from East’s play of the ten at trick one that South started with the K-Q of hearts. He should therefore try to prevent the nine from being used as an entry by inserting the jack when South leads the four. It can’t cost West anything to make this play, but it can gain him a lot.