ACES ON BRIDGE

It is true, I never assisted the sun in his rising, but doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at its rising. — Henry David Thoreau

Here you reach four spades after a straightforward Jacoby two no-trump sequence. Your jump to four spades shows a minimum hand with no shortage, after which North has no reason to look any further. When West leads a trump, you should plan the whole play at trick one.

There appear to be three inevitable losers in the minors; you cannot circumvent them, but must instead give yourself the best chance to avoid a heart loser. Rather than drawing all the trumps at once, duck a club at trick two, leaving all your communications intact.

You win the diamond return, draw the remaining trumps, play the club ace and ruff the last club, then cut loose with a diamond. The best the defenders can do is to cash their diamonds ending in

East. If West wins the third diamond, he must concede at once.

But let’s say East arranges to win the third diamond; then he must play a heart, and you can play low and run it around to dummy’s nine. If West produces the 10, you take the ace and lead a heart to your jack. This line succeeds unless West has both the heart queen and 10, a 75 percent line. By contrast, if you play on hearts yourself, you are reduced to simply taking the heart finesse. In doing so, you would turn a 75 percent line into a 50 percent chance.

As an expert once remarked: There is no suit that handles better if you lead it yourself, than if the opponents lead it for you.

ANSWER: Leading a trump is far from safe here (partner rates to have a doubleton or tripleton honor in spades), and neither minor is at all attractive. Since declarer seems pretty weak, I might lead the heart ace, breaking all the rules about leading an unsupported ace, but expecting my partner or dummy to have the heart king.

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