3-2 so there are only two heart losers . We also have two club losers , so to make 4♥ , our plan must be to ruff both club losers in the dummy . To do that , we ’ ll need two trumps in dummy .
Suppose we win the spade and immediately play the ♥A and a second round of hearts . Both defenders follow each time , so the hearts have divided as we needed them to . Unfortunately , West might now play a third round of hearts , leaving dummy with only one heart with which to ruff two club losers .
Suppose we win the spade and go about ruffing the club losers without drawing any trumps first . When we ruff the third round of clubs in dummy , East overruffs . We now lose three trump tricks in addition to the spade loser .
What can we do ? We have to time our losses appropriately . We win the first spade trick and immediately play a low trump from both hands , losing a heart trick right away . Because we have retained the ♥A , the defenders can ’ t remove two of dummy ’ s remaining trumps . On regaining the lead , we now take the ♥A and leave the remaining heart loser outstanding . We go about our business of ruffing the two club losers with dummy ’ s two remaining trumps . We don ’ t care if a defender overruffs . That ’ s the second heart loser we were counting . The defenders get two heart tricks and a spade trick , but that ’ s all .
Sometimes it ’ s a question of which tricks to lose first . Consider this deal . We are in 2♠ and West leads the ♥Q .
♠ Q J 4 3
♥ 9 8 5 2♠
♦ K 7 3
♣ J 7 5
♠ 8 2
n ♠ A 6 ♥ Q J 10 7 w e ♥ K 4 2 ♦ Q 8 4 s ♦ J 10 5 2
♣ A 9 4 2
♣ K 8 6 3
♠ K 10 9 7 5
♥ A 6 3
♦ A 9 6
♣ Q 10
We have a spade loser , two heart losers , a diamond loser , and two club losers . One too many . We can eventually promote dummy ’ s ♣J into a winner on which to discard one of the losers . Should we draw trumps first , starting with the loser in that suit by driving out the ♠A ?
Let ’ s see what will happen .
Suppose we win the ♥A and immediately lead a spade . East wins the ♠A , and the defenders take their two established heart tricks . Next , they switch to a diamond . We win and draw the outstanding trumps . Now we go about promoting a club winner by leading the ♣Q . The opponents win and lead another diamond , driving out our remaining diamond winner . We lead the ♣10 to force out the remaining high club , but it ’ s too late , the defenders can take their diamond winner . We go down one – having lost six tricks – the ♠A , two hearts , one diamond , and the ♣A-K .
Instead , we win the ♥A at trick one – we don ’ t want the defenders switching to a diamond right away . We leave the trump suit alone and immediately take our first loss in clubs , using the ♣Q to drive out one of the defenders ’ high clubs . They can take their two established heart winners and switch to a diamond .
When they lead a diamond , we must be careful to win with the ♦A , leaving the ♦K as an entry to dummy . We still don ’ t lead trumps . We lead the ♣10 to drive out the defenders ’ remaining high club .
When they lead a diamond again , we win with dummy ’ s carefullypreserved ♦K and take the promoted ♣J on which we discard our diamond loser . With nothing left in our hand except trumps , now we can finally take our loss in that suit and drive out the ♠A . We lose a spade , two hearts , and two clubs , but that ’ s all .
Suppose we reach 4♥ on this deal and West leads the ♣3 to East ’ s ♣K . How do we plan the play ?
♠ K 8 5
♥ Q 10 2 4♥
♦ K 7
♣ 9 7 5 4 2 ♠ Q 10 7 n ♠ A J 9 2 ♥ 8 w e ♥ 7 5 4 ♦ J 8 6 4 2 s ♦ Q 10 5 3
♣ Q 10 8 3
♣ K 6
♠ 6 4 3
♥ A K J 9 6 3
♦ A 9
♣ A J
We have three potential spade losers and a club loser , one too many . We could rely on West holding the ♠A , a 50 % chance . We can then make the contract by leading toward dummy ’ s ♠K . However , there ’ s an additional chance . We can try to establish an extra club winner in dummy on which to discard a spade loser . That will work if the six missing clubs are divided 3-3 or 4-2 , an overall 85 % chance – and we could also fall back on the spade finesse if necessary . If the clubs divide 3-3 , we can actually discard two spade losers and make an overtrick .
There is a danger , however . If West gains the lead while we are establishing the clubs , West might lead a spade , trapping dummy ’ s ♠K . West is the dangerous opponent . How can we avoid that danger ? Let East win the ♣K and take our losses early ! We have to lose a club trick anyway , so we might as well lose it to East , the safe opponent .
If East returns a heart or a diamond at trick two , we must be careful to win the trick in our hand . We then take the ♣A and use dummy ’ s high hearts as entries to lead clubs twice more , ruffing both times , to establish dummy ’ s fifth club as a winner . After drawing all the trumps , we use the ♦K as an entry to reach dummy ’ s remaining club to discard a spade loser .
SUMMARY
One key to becoming a good declarer is to become a good loser . We need to know which tricks to lose and when to lose them . We ’ ll make more contracts if we can take our losses in the right suit at the right time .
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