BRIDGE Tomorrow:

It is not uncommon to hear a player claim that his partner should have made a contract he failed to make. However, one must be careful to base such an opinion on fair analysis rather than on hindsight derived from seeing all four hands.

South went down one on this deal, and the question is: Should he have made the contract? West led the K-A and another club, South discarding a diamond on dummy’s ten of clubs.

Declarer’s only remaining hurdle was to draw the opposing trumps. So he cashed the ace of spades and ace of hearts, ruffed a heart and led the queen of spades. East took the king and returned a heart, and West’s ten of spades became the setting trick.

South was unlucky to run into a 6-2 heart break and 10-x-x of spades in the

West hand as well. However, he did make a mistake in the play — a small one, to be sure, but it cost him the contract.

The error occurred at trick three when he discarded a diamond on the ten of clubs. Instead, he should have discarded a heart! Then, after cashing the ace of spades, he could have ruffed a heart without having to cash the ace first and next led the queen of spades. This would have left declarer in complete control regardless of what East returned, since West would still have had a second heart in his hand.

This subtle variation in the play was necessary in the actual deal, though most of the time it would have made no difference. It illustrates how important it is to employ maximum precaution during the play of the hand.