ACES ON BRIDGE

In today’s deal, declarer failed to exploit a favorable lie of the opponents’ cards.

South had too much to open four hearts, so he opened one heart and rebid four over North’s game-forcing twodiamond response, intending to show a good suit in a minimum hand. With excellent controls, North optimistically drove his partner to slam.

West made a safe trump lead, which had the effect of attacking declarer’s ruffing potential. South had to assume the spade king was onside, bringing him to 11 tricks, so he looked to either a successful club finesse or a club ruff in dummy to bolster his tricks.

Trying to keep West off play if he had led from three trumps, declarer finessed the club 10 at trick two, hoping East would not have a trump to lead if he won with the jack. But East won cheaply and did play a second trump, then clung to his spades to protect his partner from a black-suit squeeze in the endgame. One down. Declarer failed to make use of an extra chance: While a 3-3 spade split was less likely than the club finesse, the chances could have been combined. The best line is to finesse the spade queen immediately, then cash the spade and diamond aces, discarding a spade. Next South should ruff a spade; if they divide, declarer draws trumps, and the long spade is the 12th trick. If the spades break 4-2, declarer can still try a club to the 10, having risked nothing but a ruff against an unlikely 5-1 spade split, given West’s initial pass.