aceS on bridge

“If the waiter in the restaurant stumbles and spills a gill of coffee down the back of your neck, he says, ‘For lagniappe, sir,’ and gets you another cup without extra charge.”

— Mark Twain

Today’s deal sees you overcall in spades, then try three no-trump over your partner’s cue-bid, since it is fairly typical here that partner is looking for a heart stopper for no-trump. When he bids on, he shows that he is cue-bidding for spades, and once you cooperate, North is off to the races. Blackwood sees him put you in slam, and when West leads the heart six, the auction has told you that that suit will be breaking 6-1. You might as well play low from dummy, and capture East’s nine with your ace.

Drawing trumps seems logical, and East pitches a low heart. It now looks obvious to take the club finesse to dispose of one loser, but you actually have two alternative approaches. One line succeeds when East has exactly two diamonds (strip away the clubs, then play three rounds of diamonds, pitching a heart to endplay West). However, that is a relatively remote possibility.

A far better approach is to strip away the diamonds, ruffing the third round in hand. Then play the ace and king of clubs, planning to lead the club jack and pitch a heart. If West wins the trick, he will be forced to give you a ruff-sluff by playing a minor, since you know he is out of hearts. This line succeeds whenever the club finesse would have worked, but also adds on the slim (but not irrelevant) chance that East has the doubleton club queen. Since this line works whenever the club finesse would have succeeded, it is your best play.