ACES ON BRIDGE

Larry Cohen has written a teaching tool to improve your declarer play in notrump. Details are at bit.ly/2qnZAZj. Today’s deal is from the book, and you are asked to form your plan in three no-trump after West leads the spade five and East wins the ace to return the jack.

The first question is to decide how spades are breaking. When West follows with the spade three at trick two, it makes you think spades started out as 5-3.You have eight top tricks: one spade, three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs.You can generate a ninth trick from a successful finesse in either diamonds or clubs. However, if you lose a finesse in either suit, you will be defeated.

You have to try to combine your chances if you can. Since you don’t want to lose the lead, the best way to double-dip is to cash the two top diamonds. This isn’t the percentage play in that suit, in abstract, since a finesse gives you better odds at even money. However, if the diamond queen drops, as it will one third of the time, you have 10 top tricks. If it doesn’t drop, you take the club finesse, after cashing the club ace to guard against a singleton queen offside.

So why drop the diamond queen, not the club queen? Because you have eight diamonds and only seven clubs, so the likelihood of a doubleton queen in diamonds is higher than it would be in clubs.

Act the way you’d like to be,and soon you’ll be the way you act. — George W. Crane

ANSWER: Not every hand contains the possibility for game or slam. Your promising 18-count has turned to dust and ashes, and you have no reason to believe that this is your hand anymore. If you were to bid one no-trump, you might expose your side to a large penalty, and redouble could be costlier still. I would simply pass and await developments; you may yet be able to re-open if the auction peters out.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com