Safety plays come in all shapes and sizes, and are necessary in many deals. Sometimes, though, declarer must not get so carried away with guarding against an unfavorable division that he winds up more sorry than safe.

Take this case where South was in four spades and West led the king of hearts. Declarer won with dummy’s ace and, intent on guarding against a 4-1 trump division — the only real threat to his contract — led the nine of spades and let it ride after East followed low. West won with the jack, cashed the heart queen and continued with the jack. Declarer ruffed and mulled over how to handle the remaining trumps.

One possibility was to cross to dummy with a diamond, lead a trump and repeat the finesse. This would succeed if East had all the remaining spades but would lose if West

See Full Page