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CONTRACT BRIDGE A PLAY FIT FOR A QUEEN South dealer. Neither side vulnerable. NORTH [S] Q 3 2 [H] Q 10 3 [D] K J 10 9 5 [C] 9 6 WEST [S] 10 9 7 4 [H] 6 2 [D] 8 6 3 2 [C] K 8 4 EAST [S] J 6 5 [H] A J 9 8 4 [D] A Q 7 [C] 5 2 SOUTH [S] A K 8 [H] K 7 5 [D] 4 [C] A Q J 10 7 3 The bidding: South West North East 1 [C] Pass 1 [D] 1 [H] 3 [C] Pass 3 [D] Pass 3 NT Opening lead - six of hearts. One play can make all the difference between making a contract and going down. Declarer should therefore be careful not to play too hastily when success or failure may hang in the balance. Take this simple case where declarer gets to three notrump as shown and West lead the six of hearts. Let's say declarer plays the ten of hearts from dummy and East covers the ten with the jack. South wins with the king, and, with the cards divided as they are, he must eventually go down at least two against best defense. East is bound to score four heart tricks as soon as West gains the lead with the king of clubs and returns a heart through dummy's Q-3. The same result accrues if declarer plays low from dummy on the first trick, in which case East's eight forces the king. But South has a much better way to play the hand that will stop East- West stone cold dead. All he has to do to stymie the defense is to play the queen of hearts from dummy on West's opening lead. What can East then do? If he takes the ace, he can't return a heart without establishing dummy's ten. Whether East continues or discontinues the suit, South has all the time he needs to wrap up nine tricks. And if East does not take the ace, he winds up in the same helpless position after declarer next leads the nine of clubs from dummy and loses the finesse to West's king. The contract thus stands or falls on which card declarer plays from dummy at trick one. After giving due weight to East's one-heart overcall, South must recognize the importance of putting up dummy's queen. Otherwise, the contract goes down the drain. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
