BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are West, and lead ♥4 against South’s No Trump contract. Dummy plays low and partner plays the 9, which is won by declarer with the king. Will it be safe for you to lead hearts again, if you regain the lead? Yes, this time it will be quite safe to continue leading the suit, in the hope of clearing the suit. Partner can’t have the ♥8, or he should have played it instead of the 9; nor of course, can he have the ace.

We also know that declarer hasn’t got the knave, or he would surely not have played his king to win the first trick. Therefore, partner holds J-9 and declarer holds A-K-8. With sight of all four holdings, it is very easy to work out that leading hearts again will be perfectly safe.

This is a very simple example, but the same principle of deduction can be applied to more complex situations. The more you develop the discipline of making such deductions, the better defender you’ll become. It goes without saying that you have to trust your partner not to ‘false-card’!