Bridge

WORRY ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED

In a “Northern Exposure” script, Martin Sage and Sybil Adelman wrote, “In Kyudo philosophy, you don’t aim -- you become one with the target. Then, in fact, there’s nothing to aim at.”

In bridge, you should aim at your target -- the number of tricks you need to make or break the contract. (This might not be true in a pairs event, when overtricks can be so valuable.) In this deal, how should South play in either six hearts or seven hearts? As a secondary issue, what is the best contract?

North’s double showed three-card heart support. So, when East jumped preemptively to four spades, South, knowing his partner was probably void in spades, rolled out Blackwood.

Taking the questions in reverse order, seven diamonds is the best contract, but hard to reach.

In seven hearts, South plays trumps from the top, hoping for a 3-2 split. In six hearts, though, declarer can afford to lose one trick, happy to take three clubs, five diamonds and four hearts. The danger is a 4-1 trump break. Then, if declarer immediately draws two rounds of hearts, denuding the dummy given the trick-one ruff, he will go down. West will ruff the third round of clubs and cash a spade.

Instead, at trick two, South should lead a trump from the board and play low from his hand. Then, what does West do? If he shifts to a minor, declarer wins in his hand, draws trumps and claims. Or, if West plays another spade, declarer ruffs on the board, leads a club to his queen (or a diamond to the king), removes West’s remaining trumps and claims.