BELLA VISTA — Bizarre - but correct

Occasionally, declarer may make a play that on its face appears totally bizarre, but when the play is later examined, it may well prove to be absolutely essential.

Take this deal where West led his singleton club, on which dummy played the deuce, East the seven and South the ace.

Declarer played a spade to the king, losing to the ace.

Back came the queen of clubs from East. It was at this point that South showed his mettle by playing the five instead of the king.

As a result, he made the contract.

When East continued with the nine of clubs, South followed low and West ruffed, but that was essentially the end for the defense. Declarer's only losers proved to be aspade, a club and a club ruff.

Now let's go back to trick three and see what would have happened had South played the king of clubs on the queen, which seems the normal thing to do. In that event, South would have finisheddown one, losing a spade, a club ruff and two more club tricks.

It is easy to prove that not covering the queen of clubs with the king is the right play. South cannot go down if he ducks the queen, regardless of how the clubs are divided, but he can go down if he plays the king and the opening lead was a singleton.

Since making the contract is always declarer's first consideration, it must be right to let the queen hold at trick three. Declarer has everything to gain and nothing to lose.

(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

Entertainment, Pages 18 on 11/04/2009

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