ACES ON BRIDGE

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

— C.S. Lewis

Today’s deal saw South take a flyer at four spades, partly because he was not sure what his opponents could make, and partly because it was hard to guess what his partner’s hearts would offer. Facing nothing in hearts, four spades could be cold; facing heart honors, maybe he would get lucky and find the opponents would lead the suit so he could take quick discards.

West did indeed lead hearts, and dummy was about as bad in the majors as it was possible to imagine. Nonetheless, when the first trick got ruffed, East could immediately see that the threat of discards coming on the clubs was a real one. How would you suggest he defend after declarer leads the spade jack from hand at trick two?

The answer is that East must go against received wisdom and lead a diamond back into the tenace. The best lead is a low diamond, hoping to find declarer with at least three diamonds, and for West to possess the 10, or at the very least the nine, with declarer misguessing and failing to put up the 10 from his hand.

As the cards lie, East gets in on the second spade to play a second diamond, and then again with the club king to cash out for down one. If East does not shift to a diamond, South’s slow diamond losers go away on the clubs.

Curiously, the deal is far easier to defend if North is declarer; after a top spade lead from East, he has a natural shift to a low diamond.

ANSWER: Start by cue-bidding two spades, planning to bid clubs at your next turn. If partner shows a spade stopper by rebidding two no-trump, you can seriously consider slam; otherwise, you are likely to end up in five clubs. Four hearts is another possible game, but it will be up to partner to reach that suit.