Using the clues

“Courtroom artist arrested and jailed; details are sketchy” — newspaper headline

Clues from the bidding, opening lead and defense are dangling in front of declarer’s nose on almost every deal. Some inferences are clear and would be valid even against a beginning defender. Others are subtle and valid only against an expert defender who can be trusted to play logically. In still other situations, declarer must judge whether to act on a possible inference.

In today’s deal, North leaped majestically to slam after his partner’s opening bid and West’s overcall. When West led the king of spades, South took the ace, drew trumps and led the queen of clubs: king, ace. South next took the ace of diamonds and led a second diamond to his queen. Alas for him, West took the king and cashed the jack for down one.

South had to guess which defender had the king of diamonds, and the clues were a bit sketchy. Some players would have overcalled, vulnerable, at the one level as West

even with a hand that lacked the king of diamonds. Still, West was more than likely to have that card.

How should South play if he infers that West has the king?

After South draws trumps, he can ruff a spade in dummy, take the ace of clubs, ruff a club, ruff a spade and ruff the last club. South then leads his last spade, and when West covers, South discards a diamond from dummy as a loseron-loser.

West has only losing options. If he leads a diamond, South can let it ride to his queen. If instead West leads a black card, South discards dummy’s last low diamond and ruffs in his hand.