BRIDGE

South dealer.

Neither side vulnerable.

This hand arose in the intercollegiate championships some years ago. South is declarer at four hearts, and West leads the K-A of spades. How should declarer play the hand?

It would be easy for anyone who customarily plays hastily to misplay the hand. In fact, most of the

South players who got to four hearts went wrong early in the play when they ruffed the second spade lead, drew four rounds of trump and tried a diamond finesse. East took the queen of diamonds with the king and returned a spade to his partner, who cashed two spades for down two.

Had the trumps been divided 3-3, or West had the diamond king, this method of play would have been successful. However, these declarers failed to make allowance for the much more likely 4-2 trump division, and it eventually cost them the contract when East turned up with the king of diamonds.

The proper line of play is relatively simple. In order to guard against a possible 4-2 trump division, South should discard a diamond at trick two. If he does this, he is on much safer ground.

In the actual case, West can do no better than continue with a third round of spades, and South can then afford to ruff with much greater equanimity. When he next plays four rounds of trump and takes the diamond finesse as before, East wins with the king, but this time, since he doesn't have a spade to return, South has the rest of the tricks.

In effect, declarer shortcircuits the defense by deliberately conceding a spade at trick two. It is a trick South can easily afford to lose in the interests of safety.

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