bridge

There are many deals where the success of a contract depends on declarer’s getting a precise picture of the opposing distribution. Such information may be gained from both the bidding and the play of the hand leading up to the moment where the critical decision must be made.

Take this case where South reaches four hearts on the bidding shown. West begins by cashing the K-A of spades and shifts to the nine of clubs. Dummy’s queen loses to East’s ace, and the jack-ofclubs return is taken by dummy’s king.

South has lost the first three tricks and so must avoid losing a diamond to make the contract. Before tackling the diamonds, however, he should do all he possibly can to find out how the remaining unseen cards are divided.

He starts by drawing three rounds of trump, ending in dummy, and then makes the crucial play of ruffing the four of clubs, on which West discards a spade.

The count of the hand is now complete, and South should know exactly how to play the diamonds. Accordingly, he cashes the king of diamonds, then leads a diamond and finesses the nine! After the nine holds, he returns to his hand with a trump and finesses the jack of diamonds to make the contract.

The reason South can confidently take the initial deep finesse in diamonds is based on simple arithmetic. As the play progressed, he learned that East had started with three hearts and six clubs, and he also knew from the bidding that East had started with either three or four spades. With at least 12 of East’s cards in three suits thus accounted for, it followed that East could not have been dealt more than one diamond. Therefore, after cashing the king, finessing the nine and then the jack was sure to succeed.

Note that if South finesses the jack on the second round of the suit, West will subsequently get a diamond trick to set the contract.