aces on bridge bobby wolff

“Good luck in most cases comes through the misfortune of others.”

— Jackie Stewart

When West leads the heart 10 against four spades, the defenders have set up two heart winners for themselves in addition to their two diamond tricks. How should you plan the play as declarer?

There is no reason not to win the first trick with the heart ace, because ducking lessens the chance of an overtrick. Obviously, to have any chance of making 10 tricks, you need spades to be 3-2 with the trump queen onside. If clubs are 3-2 as well, then you will make 11 tricks. However, extra care may be needed if spades break and clubs do not.

After winning the heart ace at trick one, you should lead a low club to dummy’s king and continue with a low trump, finessing the jack when East plays low. Next, cash the trump king, and when everyone follows, you are almost home. However, instead of drawing the last trump, you should now cash the club queen. If both defenders follow, only then will you draw the last trump with dummy’s ace and claim 11 tricks.

On today’s layout, you are in luck when it is West who discards, having started with 2-1 in the black suits. You continue with a club to dummy’s ace in order to ruff a club and establish dummy’s eight as a winner. All that remains is to draw the last trump with dummy’s ace, and cash dummy’s long club.

Note that cashing the spade ace and king early is highly unlikely to work, since you need to get two losers away, not just one.

ANSWER: When your partner has two equivalent cue-bids available (two diamonds and two hearts), the higher cue-bid should show four trumps, and the lower should show three. It is technically possible that your partner has six diamonds here, but let’s not confuse “technically possible” with the more normal hand type we see here. I’d bid two spades since I have nothing to spare for my earlier action.