ACES ON BRIDGE

“I will not steep my speech in lies; the test of any man lies in action.”

— Pindar

When West, playing fourth-highest leads and second from bad suits, fishes out the heart eight against four spades, declarer must try to limit his trump losers to one. The finesse looks simplest, but South may also cash the trump ace, then lead up to the queen. A better line, though, puts East under maximum pressure: Declarer should start trump by leading a low spade from dummy. Holding king-doubleton, East will need to steel himself to play small, and even if he does, he might give away the position. This play loses nothing when the king is onside.

To achieve this position, declarer should win the opening lead in dummy. If he plays small, or even the jack, he will not be able to get to the board as fast as he would like.

However, declarer can be fairly sure East holds the heart queen, since the lead of the eight appears to be top or second-highest from a poor suit. He should therefore make the surprising play of rising with the heart ace, then calling for a low spade at once.

Should East take the king, there are no more problems. Declarer can finesse on the heart return, pull trumps and knock out the club ace. Yes, East should play low smoothly on the first trump, since if declarer had the spade jack, he would probably lead to the queen initially. That line picks up the whole suit when West has king-doubleton.

Still, it may be difficult for East to play small in tempo, with his sure trump trick potentially in the balance.

ANSWER: Bid three hearts. There is little alternative in standard methods. To force to game with a threespade cue-bid would be too much. To double, then convert to three hearts, might convey your values, but you would be forced to commit yourself to an over- or underbid if left-hand opponent raises spades.