Contract Bridge

This rather pedestrian- looking deal occurred in a pairs contest. The deal would have indeed been ordinary except that of the thirteen declarers who played it in three notrump, only three succeeded — despite the fact that there was no way to stop South from making nine tricks!

At the tables where three notrump failed, declarer won the opening diamond lead with dummy’s jack and, with only eight tricks in view, immediately took a club finesse, losing the queen to West’s king. From that point on, declarer was fighting a losing battle. When the play ended, he still had just the eight tricks he had started with — four hearts, three diamonds and a club — and so went down one.

At the three tables where the contract was made, declarer saw another way to try for a ninth trick while keeping the club finesse in reserve. These Souths won the first diamond in dummy and immediately led a spade to the ten.

West won with the queen and led a second diamond to dummy’s king, whereupon declarer led another spade. This time, East won with the jack and returned a third diamond to South’s ace.

With the diamonds known to be divided 4- 3, declarer now had a free shot (except in the unlikely event that West had started with the A- K- Q-x of spades). He led a third spade, and when the suit broke 3- 3, dummy’s nine became his ninth trick. West cashed his good diamond, but declarer took the rest.

The three successful declarers realized that testing the spades first would cost nothing provided the spades were divided 3-3 or 4-2 — about an 84% probability. If it developed that the spades were 4-2 and East had the length, declarer would lose four spades and still have the club finesse in reserve.

Also, if West turned out to have started with five diamonds — which declarer would learn on the third round of the suit — he could then decide whether to give up on the spades and try the club finesse.