Contract Bridge

Let’s say you hold the West hand and are defending against four spades. You begin by leading the K- Q of hearts, on which East contributes the 5- 6 and declarer the 3- 4, in that order. What would you play next?

It may not look like much of a problem, but what you play next is crucial. Let’s assume you shift to the ten of diamonds at trick three, which many players would do. This might seem like a harmless play, but you’d soon learn that you had handed declarer the contract.

South wins the diamond with the queen and plays the ace and another trump. You score your king of trump, but that’s your last trick. Declarer finishes with 10 tricks consisting of four trumps, four diamonds, a club and a heart ruff in dummy.

Now let’s go back to trick three and lead a low club instead of the ten of diamonds. This is a much more sensible approach, and in the actual case it sinks the contract. Regardless of what declarer does next, he has to lose a club trick and so go down one.

The club shift at trick three is not dangerous at all. If South has the queen, you are no worse off, but if your partner has the queen, it is vital to attack clubs while you still have the trump king.

Players who would not lead a club at trick three might be overly influenced by the general rule that it’s risky to lead away from the king. However, that rule is not relevant here, since the king is as dead as a doornail if declarer has the queen. Your best chance to defeat the contract is to find East with the queen of clubs, and that’s all the reason you need for shifting to a club at trick three.