BRIDGE NOTES: Two plus one need not always make three

Card reading at Bridge is not everyone's forte. For to be a player who can have crystal gazing powers to see through the back of the cards, one has to put in a lot of hard work, sustained concentration and the ability to deduce and reason logically. A classic example of the above is in this hand taken from a Belgian National Championship wherein the declarer had kept his suit about and was mentally alert, following each move with a sustained concentration and awesome table presence to comprehend what the opponents could possibly be holding and then finding the perfect timing and clarity to pick the winning line. North south bid the following hand as under:-
The opening lead from west is the AC. As south plan your play and see if you can match the wizardry of the Belgian expert who succeeded in the making of his 5H contract.
As you view the dummy at the first glance, you realize your chances are quite bright with only a club and diamond loser, provided of course the Trumps breaking even or with the queen falling singleton. But after ruffing the 2nd club at trick 2, when south played the KH, much to his agony, he saw west showing out. Now as we can all gauge, the contract looked doomed with a sure heart loser and an inventible diamond loser that would sink the contract for 1 down as AC had already be scored by the opponents. Even the kibitzer watching all the cards shook their heads that here the declarer would certainly go down.
But the fascination of Bridge as a game of logic and reasoning is that sometimes when all seems lost, a ray of hope springs from deep thinking and taking reasonable inferences from the bidding and the opening lead.
South had the determination and the will to find a way out of the quagmire in which he was drowning. Can you guess how did the declarer wriggle out of his predicament?
Yes, he was not giving up easily as he pondered to count east's possible cards and holding in the suits. East, remember was the preemptor who had opened the bidding with 3C, which his partner had further preempted by raising it to 5C over south's intervening bid of 3H-what does that tell us? South reasoned that west would have to have at least 4 clubs to offer the sacrifice when both sides were both non-vulnerable inferring east to hold 6 clubs. Now he was known to have 3 hearts to the Q 10 5, leaving him with 4 cards that could be splitting either 3 spades and 1 diamond or 3 diamonds and spade or both 2-2. Of the 3 holdings, he reasoned if east held 2 diamonds and a 2 spade then on cashing out the 2 spades and top diamonds, he could end play east with master trump holding. Only if east held 3 diamonds and 3 spades, would he suffer defeat. For even if east held 1 diamond and 3 spades, (as was the case), south could still succeed but how? South cashed the KD and led a diamond from dummy. East held the following hand:
East was in a quandary. Either way he would be end played forced to concede a ruff and discard. For if he ruffs, he would be ruffing south's loser and if he sheds a spade, south would cash 2 spades and end play him with the trump. Of course had east followed with second diamond holding 2 diamonds, 2 spades, south would play on spades until east ruffed or thrown in again, if not ruffing. In Bridge sometimes two plus one need not always make three.

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  North          South
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A Q J 3            K 7
J 9 7 4      A K 6 3 2
  K 7 5      A 8 6 4 3
    6 2              5
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W       N      E      S
-       -     3C     3H
5C     5H      All Pass
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      9 6 5
     Q 10 5
          J
K Q J 9 8 7
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