ACES ON BRIDGE

When West leads the spade jack against five clubs, South sees that he is almost certain to lose a trick in each black suit. The contract will depend on avoiding the loss of a diamond trick.

South therefore plans a throw-in to improve his chances. To achieve his goal, South must strip out spades and hearts both from his own hand and from the dummy, to deprive the opponents of any safe lead.

One of the key plays comes at the first trick. Declarer must play low spades from both hands, allowing West to hold the lead. This enables South to clear out hearts and spades from both hands without East being able to dispose of his club ace.

Declarer wins trick two and eliminates the majors. He then puts East in with the trump ace, forcing that player to select a return. If he chooses a heart or spade, he yields a fatal ruff-sluff. If East returns a diamond, he lets declarer play low, thus avoiding a loser in that suit on the given layout.

The contract would be lost if dummy’s spade queen were played at the first trick. East would cover with the spade king and would cash the club ace immediately if he were allowed to hold the first trick. If South captured the spade king with the ace, East would be able to win the second spade trick, cash the club ace and get out with a third spade. The result of all this would be that South would have to find the diamond queen. With the cards lying as they do, declarer would be unable to bring home the game.

ANSWER: Simply raise to four spades. You have a minimum in high cards, but your shape and source of tricks argue for aggression. A lot will depend on how the two hands mesh, so why not take a chance at the action with the biggest upside? It is a good rule to bid game facing a limit raise anytime you have shortage — unless you do not really have what you previously bid.