ACES ON BRIDGE

“I imagine, joking apart, that to know love, one must make mistakes and then correct them.” -- Leo Tolstoy

Dummy did not have much to offer in this deal, but declarer wrapped up 10 tricks in his spade contract with seeming ease. In fact, West had missed a defensive point that might well have eluded almost everybody.

West led the diamond queen against four spades, and, after winning in dummy, declarer finessed the heart queen successfully, cashed the ace, and led a low heart. West was quick to rush in with his trump jack and followed by forcing South with a diamond.

Now the fourth round of hearts was ruffed in dummy with the nine, and the spade eight was led and run when it was not covered. At this point another trump lead from dummy finished matters, and declarer made game with the loss of just two spades and a club.

Hard as it may be to see, West’s ruff of the third round of hearts was premature. Say he discards a diamond instead and allows dummy to ruff. Declarer comes back to hand with the club ace and plays a fourth heart. It is only now that West ruffs with his spade jack and plays a diamond. With no entry to dummy, South must lose two more tricks to East’s remaining trump holding, as well as a club.

It was certainly a difficult defense to find at the table, and you may need to work through the play in detail before you are convinced -- just as I did!