ACES ON BRIDGE

“Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”

— Jean-Paul Sartre

We continue our theme of counterintuitive third-hand plays by a defender this week. Last month, we looked mainly at deceptive and entry-creating plays. This month, we will examine the more prosaic motive of saving a trick and, later on, of attacking declarer’s entries, often by way of a holdup play.

When this board came up in the semifinals of the American Trials, the defenders at all four tables were unable to cope. We all know our bridge adages, but the secret is to apply the right one at the right moment.

All four Wests sold out to the three-diamond preempt even though their side could have made three no- trump. To make matters worse, all the defenders naturally enough started the ball rolling with a small club to their partner’s ace. From there on in, declarer could hold his losers to a club, a heart and two trumps.

Do you see the mistake?

East had been using the wrong adage, “thirdhand high” rather than

“aces were made to take kings.” If East follows with the club eight at the first trick, the defense can avoid leading clubs altogether and set the partscore. By contrast, going up with the club ace at once limits the defense to one club trick.

It is interesting to speculate on what created this blind spot in the East players’ thinking. If the club nine and eight had been switched, would it have been easier to see? Perhaps the eight was so small that it seemed irrelevant.

ANSWER: Lead the diamond four. It could easily be wrong to lead the unbid suit here, but your side will probably need diamond tricks to defeat the contract, and I can see those winners disappearing on dummy’s black suits if you do not attack immediately. When in doubt, leading the fourth suit is as good a default as any.