Declarer’s first obligation is to make his contract. At times he must exercise extreme care to meet this obligation, but when these efforts pay off, he has good reason to feel highly gratified.

Consider this deal where South is in four notrump and West leads a heart. East takes the ace and returns the nine, declarer winning with the jack.

South leads a diamond, West producing the eight, and declarer must now invoke an extraordinary safety play or go out of business.

First, let’s say he makes the normal safety play of the jack. He doesn’t mind losing the finesse, which would assure him of six diamond tricks and the contract. Indeed, by playing this way he’ll make seven diamond tricks if the finesse wins and East follows suit.

But observe what happens in the actual deal when declarer finesses the jack. East shows out, after which South must go down at least one. The “safety play” proves to be a mirage when the suit breaks 4-0.

However, declarer can make the contract by invoking a super safety play. When West plays the eight on the diamond lead, South should let him win it in order to cater to every possible division of the diamonds. If he does, he guarantees the contract absolutely.

Note that a clever West can make matters more difficult for declarer by playing the queen on the first diamond lead. South may impulsively win with the king on the assumption that the queen is a singleton. But if South stops to remind himself that his primary goal is to make the contract, he should conclude that it is better to duck the queen and not yield to temptation.

Tomorrow: Bidding quiz.