ACES ON BRIDGE

Since the defenders have the advantage of being on lead to trick one, they can strike the first blow, even if that blow is often wrongly aimed. When this board first appeared in a head-to-head match, one table had a relatively easy time of things in three no-trump after South opened one diamond, which deterred West from leading a diamond. After a club lead, declarer could dislodge the heart king in safety. However, a minority of duplicate players espouse the 12-14 one-no-trump opening, which was the case at the other table. This West led a low diamond to the king, and back came the diamond eight. Now put yourself in declarer’s position. If diamonds are breaking 4-4, there will be no problem. The defenders can come to at most three diamond tricks, plus the heart king, if that card is poorly located. The distribution to guard against is 5-3 diamonds, with the heart king over the ace. If you rise with the queen or jack at trick two, West will duck. When the heart finesse loses, the diamond return through South’s remaining jack-nine will give the race to the defenders. The solution is to play the nine on the second round of diamonds. West wins with the 10, but the defensive communications have been cut. The defenders can take three diamonds and the heart king, but no more. Incidentally, if the heart king and ace are interchanged, the problem for declarer of whether to play a diamond honor at trick two is considerably more complex.