Contract Bridge

Assume you get to five diamonds on the bidding shown and West leads a heart. East wins with the king and returns the four of spades. Should you play the jack or the king from your hand?

Of course, with all four hands in view, it is easy to see that the king is the winning play. But in real life, where you see only the NorthSouth cards, you have quite a problem deciding which card to play at this point.

To solve problems of this type, you start by recognizing that it makes no difference which card you play if West has the A- Q (or even if East has the A- Q). The only two cases that matter are those where West has the ace and

East the queen, or West the queen and East the ace. In these cases, your decision is crucial.

Making the right choice is not a matter of luck, however. The correct play is the king.

Why? Because you can’t make the contract unless the club finesse succeeds, and once you are forced to assume that West has the king of clubs, it follows that East is highly likely to have the ace of spades for his opening bid.

The principle that applies here occurs in many deals. As a declarer, you must sometimes make an assumption that a particular defender has a specific card, because to assume otherwise would mean giving up on making the contract. In this particular deal, your assumption that West has the king of clubs might easily turn out to be wrong, but if proceeding on that assumption offers the only realistic chance for the contract, you are playing bridge the way it should be played.