Contract Bridge

Most players find it difficult to count out a hand, but anyone willing to try eventually finds that the difficulty is more imaginary than real. The only skill required is the ability to count to 13 and then to apply the knowledge gained to the problem at hand.

Consider this deal where West leads a heart against seven notrump. Declarer has 12 sure tricks and is a heavy favorite to pick up the 13th in the club suit. The only real danger is an unfavorable club division, so South should take steps to combat a potential 4-1 split. To this end, he does not tackle the clubs at once, but postpones playing them until he learns as much as he possibly can about the unseen hands.

He begins by cashing four hearts and three spades, discovering in the process that East started with a doubleton in both suits. Next, he cashes the ace of diamonds and K-A of clubs, West showing out on the second round.

With just three tricks remaining to be played, the count of the hand is now complete. East started with precisely two spades, two hearts, four clubs and, hence, five diamonds (of which he has only one left, since he still has the J-9 of clubs in his hand). Double-checking this, West had precisely five spades, five hearts, one club and, hence, two diamonds (of which he also has only one left).

This knowledge is very important, because South might otherwise be tempted to take a diamond finesse for his 13th trick — a move that would be a colossal blunder in view of the known facts.

So, after cashing dummy’s queen of clubs and discarding a diamond, South leads a diamond toward the K-J. When East follows low, South confidently plays the king, knowing full well that the king will catch West’s queen to make the grand slam.