ACES ON BRIDGE

My name is Might-have-been; I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.

— Dante Gabriel Rossetti

West led the club seven, second highest from a bad suit against the contract of two no-trump. This went to the four, eight and nine. There was no need for East to release control of the club suit prematurely.

Declarer then played out the spade king, queen and another spade, West discarding a heart. Next came a heart to the jack and king. West continued clubs, East winning in order to cash his spade jack and then clear clubs. Declarer subsequently repeated the heart finesse to wrap up his contract.

East could have set two no-trump by inserting the heart queen on the first round to scupper declarer’s communications. If South won the heart ace and continued the suit, he would never get back in to score the heart 10. Ducking the heart would fare no better; worse, in fact, if declarer chose to finesse on the second heart, playing East for the king-queen. (That might have been unlikely since East would have been close to opening values then.)

Playing the heart queen could hardly cost anything from a technical perspective, but this was not the only error in the play. There was no rush for declarer to cash his spades. If they were splitting 3-3 early in the play, they would still split later on. Declarer should have preserved his spade honors as entries. It is best to play the club king from dummy at trick one and then work on hearts before spades. Now declarer cannot be prevented from scoring two heart tricks, three spades, two clubs and a diamond.

ANSWER:

Lead the spade eight. Because you have no side entry, a heart lead is unlikely to achieve anything, and it might blow a trick.After all, declarer knew you had long hearts when he bid three no-trump. Try the unbid major, though whether you prefer to lead a low spade (to give partner count) or a high one (to deny an honor) is up to you.