The one that got away

A good way of improving your play is to ask yourself, after going down in a contract, whether you could have made it. This type of self-analysis helps to prevent a future error of the same kind.

Take this case where South made a mistake that cost him dearly. He ruffed the diamond lead, drew trumps, then played a heart to the ten, losing to the jack.

East returned a low club, and West won the jack with the queen. West played another heart, the queen losing to the king, and East then cashed the ace of clubs to put the contract down one.

South was without question very unlucky on the deal. He tried three finesses and lost them all. He would have gotten home safely had West held the king or jack of hearts, or had East held the queen of clubs. The odds against losing all three finesses were 7-1.

Yet he should have made the contract, despite the bad lie of the cards. South overlooked a 100 percent chance that did not depend on any luck at all.

After drawing trumps, he should have attacked clubs, not hearts, by leading a club from his hand at trick four. After forcing out the A-Q, his fourth club would provide a parking place for one of dummy's hearts.