Contract Bridge

Assume you’re in four spades doubled and West leads the queen of clubs. East wins with the ace and returns the nine, at which point it looks as though you’ll make the contract easily.

But when you play the king of clubs, West ruffs and shifts to the queen of diamonds. You cover with the king and ruff East’s ace, and now, with two club losers staring you in the face, it appears you must go down one. True, you could try to avert one of the losers by taking a heart finesse, but you know from the bidding that the finesse will lose.

As you study the matter more closely, however, you note that the setup has all the earmarks of a loser- on-loser play. The distinguishing feature of this relatively rare play is that you exchange a trick you don’t have to lose for one you do have to lose, and by a strange but satisfying alchemy wind up gaining a trick in the process.

So, after ruffing the diamond, you lead a trump to the ace, ruff a diamond, cash the ace of hearts, ruff a heart and then ruff dummy’s last diamond. Having attended to these details, you now lead the queen of hearts. West has no choice but to cover with the king, and instead of ruffing, you let him win the trick, discarding one of dummy’s losing clubs.

This deliberate concession of a trick you don’t have to lose is remarkably effective. West is forced to return a heart or a diamond, and in either case you discard dummy’s remaining club as you ruff in your hand. Thus, the only tricks you lose are a club, a club ruff and the king of hearts, and you wind up making four spades doubled.