ACES ON BRIDGE

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default. — J.K. Rowling

South elects to rebid one no-trump over one heart, since if he rebids one spade it would tend to suggest real clubs. North no longer has any interest in a grand slam. His jump to five no-trump offers a choice of slam, and South can see no advantage in playing hearts as opposed to no-trump, so he re-raises to six no-trump.

After West leads the spade jack, South starts by counting his tricks. He expects to win two spades, three diamonds and three clubs. This means that he needs only four heart tricks to make the slam.

South can almost guarantee his slam if he plays the hearts correctly. He wins the first trick with the spade king and leads a heart to dummy’s king. The next step is to return a low heart from dummy.

The logic here is that

South does not mind surrendering a heart trick to the doubleton queen.

After all, four heart tricks will be enough to bring home the slam. But

South’s real concern is to guard against a bad break in hearts. His chosen line is safe, no matter which opponent may have started with four hearts to the Q-10.

When East discards a spade, South plays the jack and West wins his queen. South can win the next trick with the spade ace and take the proven finesse in hearts against West.

Note that if East had the length in hearts, he would not be able to stop South’s heart jack from winning a trick sooner or later. Either way, therefore, South has guaranteed the success of the slam.

ANSWER: In situations like this, there are only two practical options for the lead: the unbid minors. With hearts likely to provide discards for declarer, should you lead the shorter minor or the stronger one? My instincts are to try to build tricks in clubs for our side. If the spade queen represents a trick, you may be able to get in later to play diamonds through dummy.