Trending
How should declarer go about planning the play of this hand? At the start, he sees a sure loser in spades, a very likely loser in diamonds, and none in clubs, provided he can successfully ruff two clubs in dummy. In the trump suit, he might lose one, two or no tricks, depending on how the defenders' cards are divided.
South should start by taking the spade lead with the ace and promptly return a spade.
There are two reasons for this play. One is that it is not a bad idea, when you don't know what to do, to hand the ball to the opponents -- they might not know what to do either, and might make a helpful play.
The other reason is that it may be possible to establish dummy's spades, and that could come in handy later in the play.
East wins the spade with the king and returns a diamond. South plays the queen hopefully, but West covers with the king and dummy takes the ace. A spade is next led, East showing out, and declarer ruffs. Then, after playing a club to the king, South ruffs dummy's fourth spade, finally establishing the ten as a trick.
South next plays the ace of hearts, then cashes the ace of clubs and leads a club, intending to ruff in dummy.
If West elects to ruff with the jack at this point, declarer can discard dummy's diamond, so let's say West discards a diamond. South ruffs the club and discards his diamond on the ten of spades.
Thus, all West can score is his K-J of trump. It would have made no difference if East had held the K-J instead, or if the trump honors had been split.
The long-term view taken at the start of the hand -- that an extra spade trick might prove very useful -- pays off at the end.
Tomorrow: Psychological warfare.