ACES ON BRIDGE

“As you make your way along life’s tumultuous highways, it’s important to note that you should always carry a map, have plenty of fuel in the tank, and take frequent rest stops.” — Octavia Spencer

Suit preference can come on opening lead, but not often. Take the following problem, and assume you hold the East hand.

Consider the auction and ask yourself whether you should pass at your final turn. I agree that this is the normal action, but since you expect you can take a club ruff, put partner in with an ace, then take a second ruff, you might choose to gamble and make a Lightner double.

On the lead of the club five, you ruff away dummy’s ace as declarer produces the seven. Now you must ask: Did partner start with the 5-3-2 in clubs, or is the five his smallest in that suit? If you guess incorrectly which red ace partner holds and partner has no trump trick, declarer may get to discard his red-suit loser on the clubs after drawing trumps.

When Bob Hamman was on lead as West here, he saw that the opening lead of the club queen would be a far clearer suit-preference signal than a wishy-washy five.

While leading an unsupported queen might seem dangerous, once you have decided to lead a club, you are never going to score a later trick in the suit no matter which one you choose, so you might as well help partner as much as you can.

After East’s heart return, you will succeed in putting partner in to secure a second ruff and collect 300. But playing back a diamond would allow declarer to win his ace. He might then guess to cash the spade ace and throw his hearts on dummy’s minor-suit winners — and actually make his contract!

ANSWER: Bid one heart. The wild shape and playing potential that goes with it compel us to respond on this hand. If nothing else, this will make it harder for the opponents to find their best spot.