ACES ON BRIDGE
“For wheresoe’er I turn my ravished eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise.”
— Joseph Addison .....................
South has just about enough for a jump to three hearts at his second turn, and North has an easy raise to game. West elects to avoid the dangerous prospect of underleading one of his unsupported side-suit honors by serving the heart nine into play, though a club would also be a reasonable option. Declarer would have no choice but to win an opening diamond lead and lead a low spade from the board, but on the actual trump lead, the position is not quite as clear.
Declarer has nine top tricks. He could rely on 3-3 clubs, about a one-third chance, but entries to dummy may prove to be a problem, and it is better to develop spades for a 10th trick. Given the limited entries to dummy, declarer cannot afford to make the spade play that would be best in isolation, which would be to start with one toward the jack in case East holds all the top cards. He must instead hope the spade 10 lies on his left.
Declarer wins the trump lead in hand, preserving dummy’s entry, then leads a low spade toward dummy’s queen (in case West feels like rising with an honor). When West plays low, South puts in the nine, forcing
East’s ace. If East shifts to a diamond, declarer wins with the ace and continues with a spade to the jack, knocking out the king. He can later cross to the heart king to shed a loser on the spade queen before drawing the rest of the trumps. If declarer drew trumps immediately, a diamond shift from the defense, after winning the first spade, would extract dummy’s sole entry prematurely. That would defeat the contract.
ANSWER: Lead the club jack. Try to establish your own five-card suit. This could be your only opportunity to put a club through the dummy, and unless your partner has a singleton, it is unlikely to backfire. The alternative of a diamond is hardly safe: It may help declarer pick the suit up, giving him extra entry to dummy. If my partner had opened a five-card suit, I would lead from my doubleton in that suit.