Blum on Bridge Avoid Defeat by Taking the Safe Road
	All too often during play of the hand by declarer we take unnecessary risks giving the opponents possible openings to defeat our "sure" contract. In most cases our goal is to insure our bid. Overtricks are secondary. Yes, there are exceptions that we will enumerate in a moment, but first we'll explore those occasions that to fulfill the contract is "numero uno." Playing KOs or Swiss teams it is a must to make your contract. Those overtricks are absolutely not worth it even if there is only a one-percent chance of being set. Missing an overtrick costs only an IMP, whereas going down one costs 10 IMPs non-vulnerable or 12 IMPs vulnerable. Even if you don't understand team scoring you can see 10 or 12 to 1 just ain't worth it. At match play an example where overtricks become secondary is when you are in a superior contract in relation to the rest of the field. Perhaps your partnership has been forced to bid game by competing opponents on hands with only half the deck's high card points, but are highly distributional. Before exploring safety plays, it is important to make clear that these plays should apply all the time at Rubber Bridge and teams. However, they must be weighed carefully before they are executed at match play where overtricks in so many instances would take precedent. Safety play is simply any play by which the declarer tries to reduce the risk of defeat. The Encyclopedia of Bridge states that the best play of any hand would amount to a safety play. In reality, it refers to the management of a specific suit to cope with an unfavorable break and minimize the danger of losing the contract. Two examples of technically correct handling of the cards that are wrongly called safety plays are (a) KQ1092 vs. A643 and (b) KQ983 vs. A542. In (a) to avoid any 4-0 break cash the KQ first. With (b) take the ace first in case lefty holds J1076. The above is proper regardless of the type of bridge game. A true safety play is an insurance policy against potentially fatal bad breaks and the premium paid is the overtricks. Assume your contract is four hearts and the opponents have won the first two tricks. You have no losers outside of the trump suit. You hold AQ863 and dummy has 7542. At matchpoints the finesse must be taken and if it works with the king on side plus a 2-2 break, your side obtains an overtrick. Playing party bridge or teams cash the ace to protect against the low percentage of the king to be an offside singleton. Come back to your hand in another suit and play up to the queen. Of course this safety play will forfeit the overtrick but assures the contract against all but a rare 4-0 break. There are safety plays that guarantee that the contract will be fulfilled. In a contract of 3NT outside of the club suit you have six sure winners plus being able to give up the lead one time. Sitting South your clubs are A943 with dummy's North cards KJ52. Adding the AK of clubs you still lack one winner to make game. Lead a club to dummy's king and return a club. If East (rho) fails to follow suit win the ace and lead up to the jack. If East doe's follows suit, play the nine. Should West win the trick the clubs will have split 3-2. Later cash the ace and your fourth club becomes your ninth trick. Notice this rather basic but important safety play that one cannot afford to execute at matchpoints, but must at IMPs and should at party bridge. In a contract of 6NT you hold AK62-AK62-AK2-32 and dummy has AKQ7654 opposite your 32 and no side entries. Though there is specifically only a five percent chance the clubs will break 4-0, you cannot afford to take this risk by playing the AKQ. You must play a low card from dummy first to protect against a potential lousy break and secure the slam. You give up the opportunity for an overtrick, which is a low premium in order to assure the contract. Again, you would not do this in a pair game as overtricks are the difference between a top or bottom board. A safety play that slightly differs from the norm is concerned with the proper way to finesse and also insure the greatest degree of safety. In a spade contract you hold J97642 opposite dummy's AQ83. With three trumps out the finesse is the proper play. Lead the spade jack to protect against lho holding K105. Had lho played low and you finessed the queen a trump trick would be lost in this deal.