BRIDGE with Bob Jones

It is often wrong to rush into the play of a hand. Take a breath and think about your line of play.

Your first decision is whether to win East’s queen of hearts with the ace at trick one. Ducking will be fine if East continues hearts, as you are pretty sure that East has the king also. But what if East shifts? A spade shift might embarrass you. You win the first trick and must decide how to handle the clubs. Banging down the high clubs will be fine if the queen falls, but what if it doesn’t? There will no longer be an entry back to your hand. You will have to abandon clubs and go after diamonds, leaving you with little chance to come to nine tricks.

Better to win the ace of hearts and start clubs by leading the jack from your hand. This will leave you with only eight tricks, but there is potential for a ninth trick in each of the other suits.

This sequence of plays will almost certainly lead to at least nine tricks. Even if West started with four clubs to the queen and ducks the jack, you will know all about it when East discards, and you can now start on diamonds with a much better chance of getting to nine tricks.

Best defense on this lie of the cards is for West to win the jack with his queen and shift to a low spade. Even if dummy’s jack of spades loses to the queen, East will have to give you your ninth trick regardless of which suit he plays next.