ACES ON BRIDGE

“The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.”

— Voltaire

South’s one-no-trump advance was aggressive, but passing or bidding a fourcard suit were both unattractive.

West led the club ace against three no-trump and, on seeing dummy, switched smartly to a heart, hoping that declarer had a singleton.

East ducked dummy’s heart king to preserve communications, encouraging with the four. When declarer called for the spade jack, West won and continued hearts, East ducking again as dummy played the queen. It seemed as though declarer was a vital tempo behind now. He tried to set up clubs, but West won and led a third heart, East scoring the heart ace-10 for one down.

That was fine defense, but declarer could have done better. The heart ace was surely offside after

West showed ace-aceking in the black suits; otherwise, he would have opened one notrump. East’s signaling also spelled doom for declarer. The best chance would have been to run the diamonds. East would be caught in a triple squeeze of sorts on the fourth diamond.

Since a spade pitch would establish declarer’s fourth spade, and a heart would give up the fifth defensive trick, East would have to surrender his last club, thus cutting the defensive communications. Declarer could then have played the spade king, queen and another spade to endplay East, who would have to lead around to dummy’s heart jack at the finish.

In order to set the contract by force, West had to lead a heart at trick one!

ANSWER: Seize the opportunity to introduce your good five-card suit. You might have a fit, in which case East has done you a favor by acting. It will not be a disaster even if partner does not have support, and you may push the opponents up a level. Whenever you have the chance to make such calls, the odds favor doing so.