Contract Bridge

If you ever have an opportunity to watch an expert in action, you might find his game unimpressive. This would be because most players think that the expert game abounds in squeezes, coups, endplays and other exotic maneuvers, while in actuality the expert’s chief stock in trade is his ability to make relatively few mistakes.

Once in a while, though, the expert comes up with a startling bid or play that seems to hint at superhuman powers. But when this bid or play is subsequently analyzed, it is usually found to be based on plain common sense.

Take this case where an expert East made a sensational play that defeated three notrump. South chose this contract, despite his singleton club, because he thought nine tricks would be easier to make than 11.

Declarer won the spade lead with the queen and returned the king of diamonds. East ducked, but won the continuation with the ace as West discarded a low heart. It was here that

East found the only play that could sink the contract — he shifted to the king of clubs!

South could not recover from this extraordinary play. He eventually tried a heart finesse and wound up down two. Had East returned a spade or a low club at trick four, South would have gotten home safely.

East had taken careful notice of his partner’s singleton diamond and also his lead of the spade deuce, indicating at most a four- card suit. Since West presumably would have led from a five- card suit if he had one, East deduced that his partner had a 4- 4-1- 4 distribution, which in turn meant South had one club.

If South’s singleton was the jack or a small club, it didn’t matter which club East returned. But if South’s singleton was the queen, it was necessary to return the king. So East did what he had to do to cover all the contingencies — he made the “expert” play.