Bridge

Opening lead — five of hearts.

There are literally thousands of different suit combinations, and thousands of ways to play them, making it virtually impossible for anyone to memorise them all. What the winning player does instead is to try to work out the proper play as each combination arises.

To illustrate, consider the club suit in this deal. South arrives at three notrump and can count seven tricks in aces and kings. Two more tricks are needed, and these can come only from clubs. How should declarer tackle this particular combination to give himself the best chance of scoring two extra tricks?

When the deal occurred, declarer won the first trick with the king of hearts, cashed the king of clubs and then led a club toward dummy. When West showed out, all hope for four club tricks evaporated, and South finished down one.

Before attacking clubs, declarer should consider the different ways the missing cards in the suit might be distributed. After concluding that any approach will produce at least four tricks if the clubs are divided 3-2, he should turn his attention to a 4-1 break. He might then realise that if a low club is led to the ace first, he can assure four tricks no matter which opponent has four clubs.

After cashing the ace, a low club is led toward the K-9. If East follows low, the nine is played, guaranteeing no more than one loser in the suit whether West wins the trick or not. If East shows out on the second club, South takes the king and leads the nine toward the jack to produce four tricks. Finally, if East plays the ten or queen on the second club lead from dummy, declarer wins with the king and returns the nine, again losing no more than one club.

With proper play, declarer is thus certain to score four club tricks against anything but a 5-0 break. The safety play guarding against all 4-1 divisions is sure to get him home safely.