Contract Bridge – Never Say Die

East dealer.
Neither side vulnerable.
NORTH
[S] J 9 3
[H] K Q 6 4
[D] A K 8
[C] J 7 4
WEST
[S] 6
[H] J 9 7 3 2
[D] Q 10 7 5 2
[C] A 6
EAST
[S] A Q 10 8 7 5 2
[H] 10
[D] J 9 6 3
[C] 2
SOUTH
[S] K 4
[H] A 8 5
[D] 4
[C] K Q 10 9 8 5 3
The bidding:
East South West North
3 [S] 4 [C] Pass 5 [C]
Opening lead — six of spades.

Adjectives such as “brilliant” are used far too often in bridge. After all, if someone makes the correct play, one that everyone should make, he is hardly deserving of unbridled adulation. All he has done, really, is make the right play.

Take this case, where South wound up in five clubs after East had opened with three spades. West led the six of spades to East’s ace, and the contract seemed destined to go down one, since West could ruff the spade return.

But South, who was perfectly aware that West could ruff the second spade, was not about to give up without a fight. And so, when East took the ace of spades at trick one, South casually dropped the king!

This left East in a quandary. From where he sat, South appeared to have started with the singleton king of spades and West with the doubleton 6-4. It therefore seemed pointless to return a spade, particularly with the jack in dummy.

So East turned his attention instead to his singleton heart. If West happened to hold the ace — certainly not an impossibility — a heart ruff would sink the contract. Accordingly, East shifted to the heart ten.

Having gained a reprieve, South won the heart, cashed the A-K of diamonds — discarding his remaining spade — and then led a club. West won with the ace, but when East was unable to ruff the heart return, declarer had the rest of the tricks.

South’s play at trick one is certainly worthy of admiration. East was highly likely to have a seven-card spade suit, and a ruff was imminent. East would have had no trouble diagnosing the situation if declarer followed the ace with the four, so the only chance was to try to fool East by dropping the king.

But was this play brilliant? Hardly, because it was the right play under the circumstances.

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