Aces on bridge

“A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.”

-- Henry David Thoreau

When we read books or articles about suit combinations, they generally assume that the suit is in isolation -- i.e., that the only consideration is the actual odds in the single combination. However, in real life there are often other things to take into account.

For example, here West leads the diamond five against four hearts. How would you plan the play?

The first decision is whether or not to win the first diamond, and that depends on whether you think West might have a seven-card diamond suit. The rule of 11 says no -- but that is not the full story. You don’t want to duck the first diamond and run into a club shift that may help the defenders build a trick in that suit.

After you win the diamond ace, the percentage play in isolation in hearts is to start by cashing the ace. With no opposition bidding, you would then cash the king, but in the face of West’s pre-empt you may prefer to take a finesse against East’s queen. The problem is that you have no easy way back to dummy.

Even if you guess correctly in spades, the defenders may be able to take the spade ace and play two more rounds of diamonds, generating a trump loser for you. Now you will need something miraculous in the black suits to avoid a fourth loser.

After you win trick one, it is surely better to take a first-round heart finesse, playing East to have queen-third or queen-fourth of trumps from the outset.

ANSWER: It is an old wives’ tale that one should always lead majors, not minors, against auctions of this sort. First, you decide if you have an obvious lead from length; if not, you compare suits of equal attraction, and only then does a tie go to the major. Here your clubs offer a far more attractive lead than your spades. Lead a low club rather than an honor, though.