BRIDGE IS A LOGICAL GAME
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West dealer.
East-West vulnerable.
NORTH
[S] A Q 3
[H] 10 9 7 5 4
[D] A 9 8 6
[C] 7
WEST
[S] 9 8 7
[H] K
[D] K Q 7 5 3
[C] A K Q 8
EAST
[S] K 6 4 2
[H] 8 6 3
[D] 10 2
[C] J 10 9 3
SOUTH
[S] J 10 5
[H] A Q J 2
[D] J 4
[C] 6 5 4 2
The bidding:
West North East South
1 [D] Pass Pass 1 [H]
Pass 4 [H]
Opening lead — queen of clubs.
Most hands played by declarer fit into a pattern that he has encountered many times before. Because of this, many declarers tend to treat similar situations in similar fashion, which is not always the healthiest approach to the play of a hand.
Consider this deal where West led the queen of clubs against four hearts. East followed with the jack, and West shifted to the nine of spades. Declarer played low from dummy, losing to the king, and East returned a low trump.
At this point, South put on his thinking cap. Had he finessed, which seems the natural thing to do, he would have gone down one. But South was not a player who relied solely on past experience.
He realized that finessing would be the proper play in most hands, but he also realized it would be the wrong play in this hand. So he went up with the ace, felling the king, played the ace and another diamond, and wound up making 10 tricks after ruffing two of dummy’s diamonds in his hand.
There is no denying that South was lucky to find West with the singleton king of hearts. But good luck is frequently the byproduct of good dummy play, so South was entitled to some measure of glory in nabbing the singleton king.
Declarer realized at trick three, after East had shown up with the jack of clubs and king of spades, that East could not also have the king of hearts. Had East held that card, he surely would not have passed his partner’s opening bid.
So, after concluding that West had to have the heart king, South went up with the ace — not because he expected to drop the king, but because he recognized that his only chance was to find the king unguarded.
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