Contract Bridge

Some deals that look very easy when play begins turn out to be a real struggle for declarer, usually because a key suit is divided unfavorably. But if he doesn’t panic, many of these hands can be salvaged with careful play.

Take this case where, at the outset, making four spades seems a lead- pipe cinch. Indeed, if the spades divide 2-2 and the heart finesse works, South will finish with 12 tricks.

But after ruffing West’s second club lead, declarer receives a nasty jolt when he cashes the ace of trump and East shows out. Since he may now lose two spades and a heart in addition to the club already lost, the contract is suddenly in jeopardy.

South must therefore try to find some way to avoid staking the outcome on a heart finesse, if possible. He starts by taking three rounds of diamonds ending in dummy. There’s no real risk in this because if West ruffs a diamond, it costs him one of his trump tricks. Next, the jack of clubs is trumped, leaving declarer with the K- 5 of spades and four hearts while dummy has the 10-7- 6 of spades and three hearts.

The king of hearts is cashed, and a second heart is led toward the A-J. When West follows, the contract becomes assured provided the heart finesse is not attempted. Instead, the ace is played and the jack of hearts is returned. It does not matter which defender wins this trick. Either way, declarer is home free.

If West has the queen, he wins but must then lead from the Q-J- 9 of spades. Regardless of which card he chooses, he can’t make more than one trump trick.

In the actual case, East wins the heart as West discards a club. Whatever East leads next, South plays his last heart. Again, West has a choice of losing plays from his Q-J- 9 of trump. No matter what he does, declarer scores two of the last three tricks to make his game.