ACES ON BRIDGE

“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever.” — William Shakespeare

In three no-trump, declarer won the heart lead in dummy and made the apparently natural play when he led a spade to the king and then a diamond to the jack and queen. The heart return was ducked to West, who cleared the suit. Declarer had to lose the lead to West in diamonds, who cashed the long hearts for down one.

Perhaps South should have deduced that he could afford to lose a trick to the diamond queen on his left, because then West could not safely continue hearts. The winning play is to find the somewhat unnatural and deceptive move of leading a low diamond from dummy, after which declarer's 10 is likely to force the ace.

From that point onward, declarer is safe and can develop diamonds without worrying about West regaining the lead.

The point is that if West has queen of diamonds (with or without the ace), declarer may have surrendered a trick unnecessarily, but West cannot put his partner on lead to continue hearts. If East has both high diamonds, he can lead one heart through, but declarer can duck and neutralize the suit. In essence, South loses the battle but wins the war.

This technique of identifying the danger hand and trying to keep them off lead is an essential one for improving your declarer-play technique, but this is a rather piquant example of the genre.

Yes, East could hop up with the diamond queen at trick two, but if he does that, you should immediately go and find an easier game!

ANSWER: This is not the typical shape for a negative double, but you have the values to compete and length in one of the majors. You will be delighted to hear partner bid anything except hearts, and even then, you can pass and assume no game will be cold. In the old days, players required perfect shape to double. But the perfect is the enemy of the good — a cliche with a sound kernel of truth to it.