ACES ON BRIDGE

Against four hearts, West led the club king, and on seeing dummy’s singleton, switched to the spade jack. South won with the queen and could now see 10 tricks, as long as trumps broke 3-2. The heart ace was followed by another heart to the king. South now decided he had to guess the diamonds correctly in order to make his game. As the cards lay, his line was going to generate either nine tricks or 11. Based on his knowledge of the heart layout, declarer continued with the diamond king, then led low to the 10. Upon winning with the queen, East returned a spade, which was won by the ace. A club was ruffed in dummy, and the trump queen was cashed, but when declarer followed up with a diamond, East ruffed in and played a spade for the setting trick.

There are two better lines here. One is to draw trumps with the king and ace. Now you can lead a diamond to the 10 with the communications in diamonds still in place. But a far better line is to draw three rounds of trumps, then take the diamond ace. Next lead a low diamond from dummy. If East can trump in, he would just be ruffing a loser. If East follows (or discards), take the king and play a third diamond. Either defender may be able to win and return a spade. However, you simply take your ace and play the established diamond jack, discarding dummy’s losing spade. East may ruff, but that will be the last trick for the defense.