ACES ON BRIDGE

“So much to win, so much to lose, No marvel that I fear to choose.”

— Letitia Landon

.....................

Take a seat in the West chair for today’s deal on offering declarer losing options. Against four hearts, you lead the spade jack. What is your defensive plan on seeing dummy? Beware: You may be called upon for a steady hand and strong nerves! It is quite possible that declarer has finesse positions in all three of the suits outside spades. One thing is for sure: If declarer starts on trumps right away, he is not too concerned about ruffing the third spade.

You expect declarer to win the lead in dummy and start drawing trumps. If you win with the queen and play another spade, declarer will have a good count on his losers and may be able to make good use of his time in dummy, perhaps by taking a minor-suit finesse. You can divert declarer from this successful course by winning the first heart with the ace! You then return a spade to remove dummy’s last entry.

Declarer wins the spade continuation in dummy and can hardly be blamed for repeating the trump finesse, expecting the queen to lie with East. Alas, this lets you snatch up the trick with the heart queen and exit passively in spades. As long as East defends properly, declarer must eventually tackle diamonds from his own hand and lose a trick to the onside diamond king. You can help your partner by giving count with your club discards.

If you had won the first heart with the queen, declarer would know to use his last entry to dummy to try the diamond finesse.

ANSWER: Playing two-over-one, a jump-rebid in a game-forcing auction should show a solid or near-solid suit, playing opposite a singleton. This suit does not qualify, and you should make do with two hearts to start with, intending to repeat the suit at your next turn. Note that this auction does not suggest a minimum hand (though it is consistent with one).