Many contracts fail solely because the wrong hand becomes declarer, but some of them can be saved by anticipating this possibility and finding an effective solution to it.

Consider this deal from the Great Britain-U.S. match in 1962. When the Americans were North-South, the bidding went as shown. It does seem that North should have been more aggressive after South jump-shifted in spades and then leaped again in spades. Presumably South was announcing a solid suit as well as slam interest, and on that basis North surely had the values for one more bid.

But had North carried on to six spades, South would somewhat unluckily have gone down one after a club lead. The odds against East having the A-Q of clubs were about 3-to-1, so if South had gone down in six spades, he would have had just cause for complaint. As it was, the American South made five spades and scored 650 points.

When Tony Priday and Alan Truscott were North-South for Britain, the bidding went:

Six notrump, played by North, was unbeatable, and when East chose a spade as his opening lead, Priday made all 13 tricks for a score of 1470 points. Priday’s tactical decision to protect the club king on the opening lead thus yielded an 820-point gain for the British on the deal.

Tomorrow >> Famous Hand.

— Steve Becker