Contract Bridge

In most hands, the most difficult task is to figure out how the unseen cards are divided. Once you’ve done this, you’ll rarely fail to make all the tricks it’s possible to make.

The great majority of deals provide clues that allow declarer to develop a fairly accurate picture of the opposing hands. The bidding, the opening lead and the subsequent play all combine to provide declarer with everything he needs to know.

Take this case where South failed to utilize the information available to him. West led the ten of hearts against six diamonds. Declarer won with the ace, drew two rounds of trumps, played a heart to the king and then led the king of spades, hoping East would produce the ace.

When East followed low, South ruffed. He then played a heart to the queen, hoping for a 3-3 break. After West showed out, declarer was forced to eventually lead a club toward dummy’s king and so lost two club tricks to finish down one.

South should have assumed from the bidding that West had a long spade suit headed by the ace, and that East most likely had the ace of clubs. Then, after West’s ten-of-hearts lead, he should have credited West with a singleton or doubleton heart (the nine of hearts was in dummy, so West could not be leading from, say, the 10-9-x).

On this basis -- after winning the heart lead, drawing trumps, playing a heart to the king and ruffing the king of spades -South should have cashed all his trumps, reducing all hands to three cards.

Dummy at that point would have consisted of the Q-9 of hearts and king of clubs, while East would have the J-8 of hearts and ace of clubs. A club to the king would then have made East wish he had found something else to do that day.