ACES ON BRIDGE

When South invites game on his second turn, North accepts the invitation, of course. After West’s top diamond lead, some Easts might simply encourage the lead — but it is better to overtake with the queen, perhaps planning to shift to clubs. Naturally, South wins trick one; what next? A cardinal sin of declarer play is forgetting to draw trumps. And it is a venial sin (at the very least) to draw trumps too soon. South needs two spade tricks to make his game. If he draws three rounds of trumps and then starts the spades, the opponents will duck the first spade and take the second, and the rest of dummy’s suit will be shut out. South instead takes just the king and queen of trumps, leaving dummy’s trump ace as the entry to the spades. Then he leads the spade king, on which West gives count, letting East duck. When East wins the second spade, he cashes his high diamond, and now West gives high suit preference to tell his partner to play a third spade for the trump promotion. If West had the club ace but no promotable trump, he would follow low on the diamond, letting East play a club through. Unless East ducks, declarer will be home. As it is, a third spade from East promotes the heart jack and dooms the contract. Maybe a more deceptive line for declarer is to draw just one round of trumps and lead a spade to the jack.