BRIDGE

East-West vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x K 7
u Q 10 8 7 3
v 5 4 2
w 8 7 5
WEST EAST
x Q 10 9 5 2 x J 8 6 4 3
u K J 4 2 u A 9 6 5
v 9 7 3 v 6
w K w A 10 2
SOUTH
x A
u Void
v A K Q J 10 8
w Q J 9 6 4 3
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1v Pass 1u Pass
3w Pass 3v Pass
4w Pass 4v Pass
5v Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Ten of x
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to calculate some of the odds at the bridge table. Simple logic will do in many cases. Consider the club holding on this deal.
After North's one-heart response to partner's one-diamond opening, he took care to show nothing of value as South completed the description of his hand, South looked no further than game in diamonds. The vulnerability made it difficult for East-West to enter the auction.
West led the ten of spades, and the problem was obvious: the fate of the contract hinged on South's ability to hold the club losers to two, and there was no point to postponing the decision. Declarer won the opening lead with the ace perforce and drew trumps in three rounds. It was time to tackle clubs.
If clubs were 2-2, it made no difference how South played. If clubs were 4-0, there was no way to land the contract. The only relevant cases were if clubs were 3-1, and the three missing honors held the key. If all three honors were in one hand, declarer would have to lose three tricks in the suit. If the ten was singleton, declarer had to play an honor to pin the ten. If a high honor was singleton, a low club from hand would work. Is it a pure guess?
Not at all. Either a singleton ace or king would make the contract secure with a low club lead, while an honor would work only against the singleton ten. In other words, a bare high honor was twice as likely as a singleton ten. Playing the odds, declarer led a low club and the contract rolled home.
& copy; 2005 Tribune Media Services
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