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

Let us approach today’s deal as a double-dummy problem. With open cards, can South make four spades on the lead of the heart queen?

South begins with eight tricks, even assuming the trumps come in. If he could reach dummy’s diamond ace, that would make nine — still one short. All the club honors are known to be offside on the bidding, so declarer must look to an endplay. This will not only develop the extra trick he needs, but also grant access to the diamond ace!

Declarer should win with the heart ace, draw three rounds of trumps and cash the heart king, in the hope of stripping East of his last safe exit card. Then comes the club 10, ducking in dummy when West discards. East wins and has to lead back around to dummy’s club king or into the diamond ace-queen tenace. Either way, that is 10 tricks.

If, instead, declarer leads up to the club king, East can prevail by playing the club ace, queen, jack and another club, putting

South back in.

Of course, East might try to counteract this by ducking the club 10! A club continuation would not work then, as East could win his club tricks and get out with a fifth round. Instead, declarer turns to West, exiting with a heart to use him as a stepping-stone. West can take his three heart tricks, but he must then resurrect dummy’s diamond ace. Since declarer has already scored a ninth trick via the club 10, the diamond ace is enough for the contract. So, yes, four spades can always be made.

ANSWER: You would normally show your second suit with 6-4 shape (if possible), but your spades are so much better than your clubs here that you should assume you really want to play the hand in spades. Therefore, a jump rebid of three spades is the most accurate description of your assets. (You might even bid game if you felt lucky.) Even a 6-0 spade fit might play better than 4-4 or 4-3.