ACES ON BRIDGE

Today’s deal comes from Frank Stewart’s latest book, Keys to Winning Bridge. The proceeds of Frank’s book will be going toward local charities, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it both for that reason and for its bridge content. Stewart’s deal features a relatively simple point of declarer play; see what you think. Against four hearts, West leads the diamond jack. You might as well put up the queen — you never know. Plan the play when the queen is covered by the king. The contract seems to be reasonably safe unless the spade ace is over the king. But if West has the spade ace (which he does), South also needs to find West with the club king. If that should be the case, declarer can come to 10 tricks by way of four clubs, five trumps and the diamond ace. So far, so good; however, while the club finesse is necessary, you need to ensure that you cover all the bases. South may need three entries to his hand for club finesses, so he should not draw trumps. The best play is to lead a club to the 10 at trick two, and now declarer should take only the trump king and ace. Then, rather than drawing the last trump, South repeats the finesse in clubs, comes back to the heart queen and takes a third finesse in clubs. He discards a spade loser on the master club and will be able to play on spades for the overtrick. Details of the book can be found at: baronbarclay.com.

ANSWER: While I could imagine opening this hand with a pre-empt in third seat non-vulnerable, I would never act in first seat (and feel even more strongly about a second in hand pre-empt). The combination of a weak six-carder and a strong four-card major makes bidding an anti-percentage action. Move the spade queen into the diamonds, and now you can discount the weak fourcard major and act if you want.