Bridge

A little TLC

Opening lead — two of hearts.

Some hands require a certain amount of delicate handling if declarer is to get home safely. In these cases, even the slightest slip can cost declarer the contract.

Take this case where West led a heart against three notrump. South took East’s king with the ace, led a diamond to dummy’s king and returned a low spade, covering East’s seven with the jack. It didn’t matter whether West took his ace or ducked the jack to preserve his only entry card. In either case, South would sooner or later make nine tricks.

What did declarer do that was so marvelous? Actually, nothing extraordinary. However, he did avoid two pitfalls, and to that extent he played the hand well.

First, South did not make the mistake of ducking the king of hearts at trick one. Had he done that, East would have returned the jack of hearts at trick two, allowing West to overtake with the queen and play a low heart back to establish his ten if declarer ducked the second heart lead. South would then have lost three hearts and the A-K of spades for down one.

Second, South did not make the mistake of leading a spade from his hand at trick two. Had he done that, he would also have failed. East would have won the spade with the king, cashed the jack of hearts and led a spade to West’s ace to set the contract.

It is true that South would have made only eight tricks — even the way he played the hand — if East had gone up with the king at trick three when a low spade was led from dummy. However, the reply to this is very simple: How many players do you know who, holding the East cards, would have risen with the king of spades without seeing declarer’s hand? If you know such a player, our advice is to avoid playing against him! —