The play of the cards in most deals is relatively simple. Both sides do all they reasonably can to accomplish their goal, and the play follows a predictable course.

But there are some hands that are not so simple, where a player must do something strikingly unusual to achieve the best result. Such hands are relatively rare but are of particular interest when they occur.

Consider this deal from a team-of-four match where at both tables South got to four spades and West led the queen of hearts.

At the first table, East took the queen with the ace and shifted to his singleton club. Declarer won the club in dummy and returned a trump, East playing the ten, South the king and West the ace. West returned a club, ruffed by East with the jack, and declarer later lost another trump trick to West’s nine for down one.

At the second table, East also won the heart lead with the ace and returned a club. Declarer took the club in dummy and led a trump, just as at the first table. But when East produced the 10 of spades, this declarer played the deuce from his hand! As a result of this remarkable play, South could not be stopped from making the contract.

South’s duck of the 10 of spades, though highly unusual, was extremely well-reasoned. He recognized that if West had three trumps to the ace, which to him seemed likely, it would be suicide to cover the 10 with the king in view of the impending club ruff. He was perfectly willing to lose two spade tricks, but not three.

Of course, South could not be absolutely certain as to how the missing trumps were divided, but he backed his judgment to the hilt and came away with flying colors.

Tomorrow >>

— Steve Becker