ACES ON BRIDGE

“Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins.”

— John Locke

West’s opening lead put his side a tempo behind on today’s hand. However, declarer failed to find the best continuation to punish the inaccuracy, and he finished one down.

An aggressive one-heart opening from South (in second seat this looks exactly like a two-heart opener to me) propelled his side into game. West led the top of his doubleton spade, no doubt with some hope of promoting his heart 10, which went to the king and ace. East could see he had the spades controlled, so he shifted to a trump to try to prevent a third-round diamond ruff in dummy.

More in hope than expectation, declarer inserted the jack. When it held, he played the diamond ace and another diamond without really considering the consequences. Of course, the defense continued trumps, and declarer had to lose a club to go with the third diamond. That, coupled with the spade loser, spelled one down.

South should have seen that the diamond ruff was not going to bear fruit. His only chance was to set up dummy’s spades. He should have laid down the top hearts, crossed to the spade queen and ruffed a spade. The two minor-suit aces would then set up the long spade by ruffing out the suit, then cashing it.

For the record, a trump lead would have set four hearts immediately, as long as East either ducks the first spade or wins it and attacks dummy’s entries. It is human nature to win the first spade as East, but if West gives count, that play can rarely gain much and may well cost you.