ACES ON BRIDGE

“Shallow brooks murmur most, deep silent slide away.”

— Sir Philip Sidney

When North opens one diamond and immediately raises spades, an optimistic sequence leads South to declare a slam that would be impossible to bring home on a heart lead.

However, when West opts to lead a fourth-highest club, East wins and can do no better than continue the suit. South wins and must now go after diamonds to establish that suit for a heart discard.

Cashing the top diamonds and ruffing a diamond will establish the suit if it is 3-3 or an opponent has a doubleton queen. Then dummy’s trumps will serve as the entries for the good diamonds.

But what if diamonds break 4-2? Declarer will need two trump entries to the board. It is logical to cash one top trump at trick three, and see East follow with the 10. Then declarer plays the diamond ace-king and ruffs a diamond high. When the suit breaks 4-2, as feared, how should declarer plan the play thereafter? Declarer needs two entries to dummy: one to establish diamonds, and one to cash them.

Is it better to play spades to be 2-2 or 3-1? The fall of a high spade from East makes it more likely he started with a singleton than with the 109 doubleton. So, lead a spade to the eight rather than to the king, then ruff another diamond high. You can draw the last trump with the king and cash the 13th diamond to pitch your heart loser.

For the record: On an initial diamond lead, declarer must play a club himself at trick two in order to come to 12 tricks.