Winners know how to control losers

Vince Lombardi said, “If you can shrug off a loss, you can’t be a winner.”

That does not apply to bridge. If you can shrug off a loser, you will probably become a winner. Knowing how to avoid losers is one of the cornerstones of declarer play.

In today’s deal, for example, South is in four spades. West leads a low club. East wins with the 10 and tries to cash the club ace. How should South continue after ruffing?

North did well to rebid three spades. It was tempting to select three no-trump, and that luckily would have worked here. But the risk that the opponents could take five club tricks was real. Also, if South were, say, 5=4=2=2, he would have continued with three no-trump.

When this deal was played in a teams match, one declarer immediately saw 10 tricks via six spades, three hearts and one diamond. He drew two rounds of trumps, but West’s club discard brought play to a halt. Declarer tried to find a way home, but he was destined to be a loser.

The second South didn’t want to rely on a 3-2 spade break. He knew that a 4-1 split occurs almost one time in three. If he had a trump loser, he saw one potential loser in each suit. Was there a way to eliminate one of the side-suit losers?

Yes, a heart could be ruffed on the board. But note that if declarer had immediately played three rounds of hearts, West would have ruffed with his spade eight. Knowing that he needed only one trump to ruff one loser, South cashed the spade ace, then played on hearts. We have a winner!