Contract Bridge

There are some deals where declarer can tell exactly how the missing cards are divided and, as a result, can achieve the maximum result possible.

Declarer has two main sources of information that can guide him in working out the composition of the unseen hands. One is the bidding, and the other is the plays already made, which nearly always shed valuable light.

Consider this case where South winds up in four hearts after West has opened the bidding with one diamond. West leads the king of diamonds and shifts to the jack of spades. South sees that the contract is easy to make if the spades are divided 3-2, since he can eventually establish dummy’s diamond queen and his fourth spade to come to 10 tricks. He therefore begins to think in terms of what he might do if the spades turn out to be divided 4-1.

After taking the spade jack with the king, he plays the A-K of trump and then leads the eight of diamonds. West wins with the ace and returns a diamond to the queen, on which South discards a spade. But when declarer next cashes the ace of spades, West shows out, leaving South with the possibility of losing both a spade and a club for down one.

Declarer can, of course, attempt a club finesse, hoping to find East with the king, but this is a bleak prospect, since West is virtually certain to have the king for his opening bid.

It is this clue, gained from the bidding, that saves the day for declarer. Instead of trying the tempting club finesse, South plays the ace of clubs followed by the queen!

West wins with the king but is stymied. He has no choice but to lead a diamond or a club, and whichever he chooses, South ruffs in dummy and discards his last spade to bring home the contract.