BELLA VISTA — Bridge is a game with lots of rules, but it is important to remember that just about all of them have their exceptions. When a player's common sense tells him that following a general principle can't gain and might lose, he should abandon customary procedure on that occasion.

Consider this case where South arrived at three notrump on the bidding shown. Since hearts was the only unbid suit, West led a heart, on which declarer played low from dummy.

The outcome now hinged on what card East chose to play to the first trick. Had he mechanically followed the general rule of "third hand high" and played the queen, declarer would have made the contract. But East, after thinking thematter over, decided to play the ten, and South was forced to win with the jack.

Declarer had only seven tricks available at this point, and could not make any more without tackling clubs. When he did, West took the ace and played the ace and another heart, whereupon East won with the queen and ran his suit for a onetrick set.

East's play of the ten on the first trick was wellreasoned. If South had both the ace and jack of hearts, it didn't matter whether East played the ten or queen. And if declarer had just the ace, the ten would be just as effective as the queen.

But if declarer had the jack and West the ace, the play of the ten was vital in order to preserve the queen as a subsequent entry to the rest of the suit. If the queen were played first, East would effectively kill any chance of scoring his remaining hearts.

It is certainly true that playing the queen would have won the first trick instead of losing it. But that is not the issue, since East's aim is to defeat the contract. To that end, who won the opening trick was an insignificant consideration.

(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

Entertainment, Pages 19 on 10/21/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.