Contract Bridge

You are West, defending against Four Spades after South opened with three spades and was raised by North to four. You lead the king of hearts, on which East plays the three and South the four. When you next lead the ace of hearts, East plays the six and South the eight. Which card would you now play at trick three? This problem comes from the book “More Killing Defense at Bridge” by the brilliant Scottish player/writer Hugh W. Kelsey. The hand is another example of why most experts agree that defense is the most difficult part of the game.

The correct play at trick three is the queen of hearts! You should play the queen even though you know your partner has the missing ten of hearts (because he did not play high- low to show a doubleton).

When declarer ruffs the heart and plays a trump, you grab the ace and lead another heart to kill dummy’s jack. East ruffs and declarer overruffs, but South later loses a club trick and goes down one. This was South’s hand at the start:

Now let’s suppose you had shifted to a diamond at trick three, which seems the more natural thing to do. In that case, South can make the contract with correct play. He wins the diamond with the ace and leads a trump to his king. You take the ace and lead another diamond.

South ruffs, cashes the queen of trump, leads a club to dummy’s king, ruffs the nine of hearts and plays two more trumps to produce this position:

Declarer leads the eight of spades, and you are caught in a squeeze. If you discard a club, dummy discards a heart; if you discard a heart, dummy discards a club. Either way, declarer makes the last three tricks and the contract.

West must be exceptionally alert to foresee what might happen to him if he fails to lead the queen of hearts at trick three. But that’s the highly demanding type of game bridge is.