On some deals, the outcome is a forgone conclusion. Declarer takes his tricks, loses what he has to lose, and that’s that. On other deals, the outcome might hinge solely on the lie of the adverse cards. The opposing distribution or the location of a particular card determines the result, and there is nothing that can be done about it.

On both types of hands, declarer has little or no chance to demonstrate his skill. But on a third type of hand — more common than the other two — declarer is presented with an opportunity for skillful play. It is on these occasions that he must consider various options and then choose the one that offers either the greatest chance of success or that is designed to overcome an unlucky lie of the cards. Today’s hand illustrates the latter case.

In four spades, South can count four potential losers — a diamond and three hearts. Declarer sees that by leading twice toward dummy’s K-J-3 of hearts, he can avoid losing three heart tricks if West has either the ace or queen of hearts, or both. His only real concern, therefore, is how to make the contract if East has the ace and queen. This is where skill enters the picture.

To assure the contract, South wins the diamond lead with the ace, draws trump, then cashes the A-K of clubs and ruffs dummy’s last club. He then plays the king of diamonds and exits with a diamond.

He does not care one whit which opponent actually takes the trick. If East wins, he must play a heart to dummy’s K-J-3 or yield a ruff-and-discard by leading his remaining club. If West wins the diamond, he can return a heart, but dummy simply plays the jack or king, forcing East to win and concede the game-going trick as before.

Tomorrow: High-level thinking.