Contract Bridge

How should declarer play this hand in five diamonds doubled? Of course, he cannot see the East-West cards; his only real clues lie in the bidding and the opening lead.

A great deal of information is available from the bidding. First, declarer should assume that West is likely not to have any diamonds for his twodiamond bid and subsequent strong bidding. For the same reason, West should also be credited with virtually every missing high card, since his direct cuebid showed a powerful hand.

So, while it is true that South cannot actually see the defenders’ hands, he can nevertheless approximate their holdings, and all he has to do is to try to take advantage of this knowledge.

Declarer’s first key move is to duck the king of hearts! This is an important part of the overall plan of play. Let’s say West leads another heart. South wins and leads the king of clubs! This play is likewise crucial to declarer’s plan.

West takes the ace and can do no better than lead the king of spades. Declarer wins with the ace and trumps a spade. From then on, he has clear sailing. South trumps his 9- 8- 3 of clubs in dummy, re- entering his hand each time by ruffing a spade, and so finishes with 11 tricks. The heart duck at trick one and the seemingly extravagant play of the club king at trick two pave the way for a successful crossruff.

Observe that if South takes the king of hearts with the ace at trick one, he can be defeated. West can sooner or later put East on lead with a heart to return a trump and short- circuit the crossruff. Similarly, if declarer leads a club lower than the king at trick three, West can win and gum up the works with a trump return. Two hurdles, carefully surmounted by South, get him home safely.