Contract Bridge

One of the purposes of a pre- emptive bid is to crowd the bidding in the hope that the opponents will then stumble into the wrong contract. Thus, in today’s deal, after his partner passes and South opens the bidding, West has good reason to think that the opponents may be able to make a vulnerable game, so he bids three spades rather than one. Even if he gets doubled, West has six probable tricks, and if North- South can make a game or a slam, the penalty incurred will be worthwhile.

In the actual case, North does double, and East runs to four clubs. South then winds up in five diamonds but note that his side might well have reached three notrump (making five) had there been less (or no) interference.

As it happens, five diamonds is a sound contract that cannot be defeated if declarer plays correctly. Nevertheless, the fact is that it would be very easy to play the hand incorrectly.

West leads the spade queen, and South’s mettle is tested at once. The proper move is to play low from dummy and let West win the trick! When West continues with the jack, declarer ducks again and then ducks a third time when West returns the ten, this time ruffing in his hand. South then has no trouble collecting the rest of the tricks.

If declarer makes the mistake of playing the ace or king from dummy on any of the first three spade leads, he goes down one. However, he should realize from the bidding that West has six spades and East none, so he should let West win the first two tricks in order to preserve the 11 tricks he started with.