ACES ON BRIDGE

“You see, but you do not observe.” -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It is important, as Sherlock Holmes once remarked, to focus on what did not happen as well on what did take place. Here, when West opened the bidding with one spade, emphasizing his higher- ranking suit both because of its quality and for its pre- emptive value, North and East both passed. South now balanced with two hearts, and when North bid two spades, it was an Unassuming Cue- bid, agreeing hearts and showing a maximum pass. South now took a somewhat rosy view of his hand by jumping to game.

West cashed two top spades, then led a third to East’s queen, ruffed by South. Next came the diamond three to the seven, queen and king. Back came a club, won by dummy’s king, but now declarer took the trump finesse. When that lost, down went the game.

South had been on the right track by testing the diamonds early. When East turned up with the king, that, coupled with his possession of the spade queen, brought him to five points. If East had also held the heart king, it would have given him eight -- more than enough for a response to West’s opening bid. So West was known to hold the trump king, and declarer had to hope it was singleton.

Incidentally, East could have made life more difficult for declarer by withholding the diamond king on the first round of the suit, since West’s seven looked suspiciously like the top of a doubleton. In all probability, South would have continued with the trump finesse, on the assumption that West held the diamond king. Then East would still have come to the diamond king in the fullness of time.

ANSWER: There is no good reason not to lead hearts here. I can make a decent case for leading the queen rather than a low heart, since if dummy has the king, and your partner the ace- jack, you might in this way be able to lead hearts repeatedly and force declarer to ruff, thus depriving him of trump control. I’m not sure I’d make this play without the heart 10.