Bridge is a game of reason and foresight - two vital qualities that makes a Bridge player fall in the category of experts. After all there are only 52 cards that lie distributed and looking at half the deck, all the good declarer needs, is to reason out the best winning line and that he can only do if he has can only do if he has the foresight to visualize what possible distribution of the cards can give him his contract. And that not is all. With foresight and reasoning the declarer almost never misses out on his timing of the play for he views all angles of the opposition moves that can thwart his progress and therefore, is well prepared to counter such moves beforehand leaving little or no opportunity for the defenders to raise their obstacles.
Let us learn by example. Today's illustration shows how a declarer tends to keep his nerves cool and with a reasonable head and the foresight to look ahead, easily makes his contract that on the face of it may seem difficult but is still soluble. North south land in a contract of 4S on the following hand with the bidding given below in which the opponents interfere, making the declarer's, task a bit easier in placing the key cards and the distribution.
The bidding proceeded as under:-
The EW bids of heart opening and raise were a help for the declarer who could gauge that betwixt them EW held at least 10 cards and out of the 19 HCPs left, west was likely to have 13, with east probably 6. The opening lead from west being KH, confirmed that west's holding was a solid heart opening with 3 top honours leaving him with either of the 2 kings in the minor suits.
Let us place the reader in south's place and see if you can come up with a reasonable plan of play to make 4S. Viewing the dummy at first glance, you can foresee that if the diamond finesse is not on, you tends to lose 2 diamonds tricks coupled with the 2 inevitable club losers, unless of course the king of diamonds which you are hoping for lies with west. That would be a smooth sailing for you already have 9 tricks with solid 7 trumps and the 2 aces. But in Bridge the seas are never calm with a storm brewing from nowhere.
When you ruff and play trumps you find the trumps breaking normally 2-1 with west having a singleton. On the face of it, it appears that the contract hinges only on the diamond finesse being right. But what if it is not so? Can you still find another way to enhance your chances of success?
Perhaps the next best alternate for finding that elusive 10th trick lies in the heart suit that dummy has been left with after the KH lead. If somehow the heart J can be promoted, the contract can succeed. So now do you see the wisdom of exchanging loser on loser and thereby gaining the advantage of establishing an extra trick for yourself? Once you grasp the possibility of exchanging heart losers with club losers. You can see a ray of hope breaking in for your contract to succeed. The more you realize this exchange, the possibility of it yielding that extra trick becomes a certainty.The JH can be played with a club discard giving west his first trick and then 10H can be played for a second club discard giving west the second heart trick. Now the 9H can be a winner for the diamond discard giving the opponents one diamond to win, in case the diamond finesse is not on. Thus the opponents get 3 tricks - 2 in hearts and 1 in diamond and your diamond loser vanishes on your established heart winner to make your contract come home.
Well, well was that all there is to it? No, my friend a little carelessness can cost dearly, hence the emphasis to pause at the first trick. By the way did you carelessly ruff the heart king opening lead with a low spade? Then you are doomed to failure. For you need 2 more entries in dummy to establish the heart trick, while dummy has only one-AS. So ruff high the HK and the 8 and 3 of spades become the extra entries to dummy for making the last heart good. This could only be possible if you had the foresight in Bridge!
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North
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A 8 3
J 10 9 6
6 4 2
8 7 4
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South
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K Q J 10 9 7 2
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A Q 3
A 5 3
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W N E S
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1H P 2H 4S
All Pass
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