Contract Bridge

Whenever possible, a defender should try to divert declarer from the winning line of play. East did exactly that in today’s deal and talked South out of what appeared to be a surefire four-spade contract.

West led a heart, and East took the first two tricks with the queen and ace. Declarer noted immediately that his potential club loser could eventually be taken care of by dummy’s diamonds, so his only real concern was to make sure he did not lose two trump tricks.

Since he could lose a spade and still make the contract, he could afford to try the standard safety play with this combination: cash the ace, cross to dummy with a diamond, lead the nine of spades and let it ride. If East started with the Q-J-x-x of spades, this would limit South to one spade loser, while if West won the trick, it would mean the spades were originally divided 3-2.

Declarer would therefore have made his contract easily had East returned a heart, a diamond or a spade at trick three. But East, who was well-versed in safety plays, decided not to sit idly by while South overcame the 4-1 spade division. After collecting his two heart tricks, he blithely shifted to the nine of clubs!

This unexpected development gave South pause for thought. The nine of clubs had all the earmarks of singleton. If it was, attempting the safety play would risk the contract. If West started with the Q-x or J-x of spades, he would return a club after winning the second spade, and East would ruff to sink the contract.

So after taking the nine of clubs with the queen, declarer led a spade to the ace and then cashed the king. When West showed out on the second round, South realized, to his chagrin, that he had been had by East’s clever ploy.