ACES ON BRIDGE

“The only joy in the world is to begin. It is good to be alive because living is beginning, always, every moment. When this sensation is lacking — as when one is in prison, or ill, or stupid, or when living has become a habit — one might as well be dead.”

— Cesare Pavese

Today’s deal, our final one showcasing Margi Bourke, might be posed first as an opening lead problem.

It often pays to lead passively against six no-trump when your opponents have bid there on raw power. If you lead from an unsupported honor, only rarely will you be able to cash two tricks or set up a trick to go with a sure winner. More frequently, you will surrender a trick for no return.

West has no truly safe lead today, though. A major suit seems out, while leading from 10-third in an opponent’s suit is unappealing. (Your partner could have the queen and dummy the jack, for example.) But maybe this is better than leading a singleton around to a hand that could easily have length there. When West selected a diamond, now whether East inserted the nine or won the ace, declarer had three diamond tricks. East actually won and returned the suit. Declarer Bourke won it on table and ran her minor suits, West pitching four spades to retain his heart guard. When declarer cashed three hearts ending in dummy, East showed out, leaving Bourke with a guess. Had West started with five spades to the king and been squeezed between the majors, in which case declarer would need to play to the spade ace now, or did declarer simply need to take a finesse?

The clue lay with West’s choice of opening lead. With a spade sequence headed by the jack-10-nine-eight, West would have led that suit. Bourke duly played a spade to the ace, dropping the king.