aceS on bridge

“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”

-- Woody Allen

Against your contract of four spades West leads the heart 10, East overtaking with the jack and continuing with the heart ace, which you ruff as West follows with the six. How do you plan to ensure your contract?

If spades and diamonds are both 3-2, you could make 12 tricks. However, as you are in four spades, it will pay you to focus your attention to the possibility that either one or both of these suits could be 4-1.

After ruffing the second heart, you should play a diamond to the ace, followed by a trump to the king. Next you ruff a low diamond with the jack, setting up the suit against a possible 4-1 break. Even if a defender shows out on this trick, the diamonds are now established -- but how do you get back to hand to run the suit?

The answer is relatively simple when you think about it. You must overtake dummy’s bare trump queen with the ace to return to your hand and run the diamonds without forcing yourself. These plays have given the defenders at least one natural trump trick -- indeed, on today’s lie of the cards, East has two trump tricks now. But in return you have retained control of the trump suit.

When you run the diamonds, East will ruff in and play a heart. However, you simply trump and continue the avalanche of diamonds. All you will lose are two spade tricks and one heart.

ANSWER: This hand falls into the gray area between a simple heart raise and a cue-bid raise to three diamonds (remember, a jump to three hearts is shapely and weak). On this hand, despite the singleton in the opponent’s suit, my bad trumps suggest going low, so I’d simply raise to two hearts. But if my partner had overcalled in spades, I’d up value my hand and take the more aggressive position.