Good news, bad news

Now I've been going through rather a bad patch at the moment and I want your sympathy. Of course there are people who claim duplicate bridge – where you hope to out-perform someone who will hold the same cards as you – is a game of pure skill. They are very wide of the mark. The luck in duplicate, though more or less insulated from considerations of how good a hand you hold, is very much present. Let's say you reach a slam with these cards.

  • 84
  • AQ1087
  • 63
  • A983
N
W
E
S
  • AK5
  • KJ5
  • AJ4
  • K1073

But which slam? If it is six clubs then you have reasonable chances. If you have been prudent during the auction then it may well be difficult for the opposition to lead a diamond. On any other lead you will simply cash two rounds of trumps and set about the hearts, pitching diamonds and twelve tricks will be yours. If they lead a diamond you have two chances: clubs to play for no loser or the player with three trumps having four hearts – both somewhat slim. It is not a good slam.

Compared to six hearts however, it is a thing of beauty. That contract requires clubs to play for no loser as there is no extra trick in the trump suit from ruffing. Even then, to cater for one hand holding honour to four in the suit, you have to guess to play off the right top card first. I'm ashamed to admit this was the contract that my partner and I selected. After a trump lead I cashed the ace of clubs – North might have led a singleton – and found the queen and the knave falling into my lap. Let's look at another example:

Partner deals and opens a weak (12-14) no-trump, next hand passes – what action do you take? It could be right to look for a heart contract rather than insist upon spades – even though you have a better suit and a card more. Both players who held this hand aimed only at four spades. Even if partner has more hearts than spades, painting a too detailed picture could entice a spade lead and subsequent ruff. A direct four spades is one possibility, transferring and making the no-trump opener declarer the other. If it is a case of avoiding losers then a blind lead round to partner's AQ or AK would allow a quick discard. Alternatively, if you have cover for you losers and want to avoid heart ruffs, then keeping your length secret may well be right.

It is a really close call. Maybe unless you play the game continuously you never build an appreciation of the issues and fall into a bad oscillation – it worked badly last time so you switch; if it's a 50-50 shot alternating, then get them all wrong. What can I say? I bid and put the man with a singleton heart on lead. The luck evens out then so why do I want your sympathy? Well, suffice to say the first hand occurred in a knock-about teams, the second in a close Gold Cup match…

Published Saturday 5.May.2001