ACES ON BRIDGE

“There is an endless merit in a man’s knowing when to have done.” — Thomas Carlyle

In today’s deal, South was not discouraged by his partner’s failure to respond to his opening bid, and he still found a way to drive to game. The contract was not hopeless, but the real problem was getting into dummy while losing no tricks in the majors. South saw he could only enter dummy with the club nine, but would then have to use this single entry to take two heart finesses and one spade finesse. Before you read on, try to find the precise sequence of plays necessary to achieve this.

Declarer wins the diamond ace, knocks out the club ace, loses a diamond and wins the next trump in dummy. He must next lead the heart queen from dummy and unblock the jack from his own hand. This allows dummy to retain the lead for the next heart finesse. Finally, South can take the spade finesse.

Note that South would fail in his contract if he started by leading the heart nine or 10 from dummy as his initial play in that suit. East would play low and would save the heart king for when declarer advanced dummy’s queen. This would force South to win the second heart in his own hand, and now there would be no entry to dummy for the spade finesse.

It would be equally unsuccessful to lead the heart queen and forget to throw the jack. Again, South would have to win the second heart in his own hand and wave goodbye to dummy.