You usually break even by swapping one loser for another, but there are times when the exchange gains a trick.

Consider this case where South got to four hearts on the bidding shown. His double of two diamonds was for takeout and indicated a strong hand with support for the unbid suits. North could do no more than show his heart support, and South eventually pressed on to game.

West started off with K-A of diamonds. Declarer ruffed, cashed the A-K of spades and trumped a spade in dummy. He then led the 10 of hearts and followed low, crediting West with the ace of hearts for his overcall.

West took the ace and, recognizing from East’s play of the queen of spades on the previous trick that East had no more spades, led the jack of spades. Declarer ruffed in dummy, East overruffed with the queen, and South later lost a club trick to go down one.

Declarer played correctly up to the point where he trumped West’s jack of spades return in dummy. He shouldn’t have ruffed, since it was certain that East had no more spades and would overruff.

Instead, South should have discarded a club from dummy, deliberately allowing West’s jack to hold the trick. Had he done this, he would have made the contract by eventually ruffing his third club in dummy.

The reasoning behind the club discard is simple enough. South is sure to go down if he ruffs the spade jack in dummy and is very likely to make the contract if he discards a club instead. He should therefore swap his club loser for a spade loser, gaining the game-going trick in the process.

Tomorrow >> Famous Hand.

— Steve Becker