ACES ON BRIDGE

“Dirty British coaster with a saltcaked smokestack,

Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

With a cargo of Tyne Coal, Road-rails, pig lead, Firewood, ironware, and cheap tin trays.”

— John Masefield

This week's deals all involve deceptive plays by declarer in fourth chair, today featuring a variety of Bath Coup. This position arises where declarer ducks the opening lead of a king while holding ace-jack-low in hand, facing small cards. This might convince the leader to continue the suit, giving a trick; however, with the popularity of attitude signals these days, the play is more useful to gain a tempo by forcing the defense to switch.

The Dirty Coup is a close relative of the Bath Coup. When a switch to another suit would carry significant risk for declarer, he may need to go to great lengths to encourage a continuation of the led suit, being prepared to sacrifice a trick in the process.

Take over as South from Lou Levy in three no-trump on the lead of the heart king. If you take this, East will get in with the spade ace to play a heart through — curtains. If you duck, West is likely to obey his partner's leaddirecting instruction and shift to a diamond to sink the contract.

Levy found an imaginative route to deflect West when he followed with the heart jack at trick one. Perhaps West should not have fallen for this after East failed to support hearts; also, the lead of the king normally asks for count, so the seven cannot be from three cards.

In practice, West did continue hearts. Lou won the second round and drove out the spade ace for a peaceful nine tricks, East having no more hearts to play after winning the spade.

ANSWER: You could lead a club, hoping to find partner with a doubleton, but even a small doubleton in clubs may not be good enough. All too often, partner will have a singleton, and you will lose your ace. It may be better to use your time on play to lead through the dummy. The heart 10 is an attractive alternative.