Contract Bridge

Card-reading — the art of diagnosing how the unseen cards are divided — is the backbone of good card play. Knowing where the missing cards are located is like playing a hand with all 52 cards exposed, and to play a hand well when all the cards are in view is seldom a difficult challenge.

Consider this deal where declarer went wrong. East won the spade lead with the jack and continued with the A-K. South ruffed the third spade, drew trump, led the ten of diamonds from dummy and went up with the king after East followed low.

West won with the ace and returned the jack of diamonds to South’s queen. Declarer later tried a club finesse that failed, and so went down one.

The critical clue that declarer missed (aside from the fact that East did not put up the ace when the singleton diamond was led from dummy) was that East had passed as dealer and was therefore highly unlikely to hold the ace of diamonds after showing up with the A-K-J of spades and a singleton heart on the first five tricks.

Once South assumes that West has the ace of diamonds, it becomes clear that instead of covering dummy’s ten of diamonds with the king, he should play low from his hand. In the actual case, even though West wins the trick with the jack, he is stymied.

A diamond return, whether high or low, allows South to score two diamond tricks with the help of a ruffing finesse and in that way would eliminate his potential club loser. A spade or club return also allows South to avoid the club loser — again with the aid of a ruffing finesse in diamonds.

Either way, it turns out that East’s pass as dealer reveals that West has the ace of diamonds — and it is this significant clue that should enable South to find the winning line of play.