ACES ON BRIDGE

“Ah! nothing is too late Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .....................

This week, our deals will focus on holding up an ace in defense, and the various applications of that tactic.

West leads the diamond jack against four hearts. Declarer wins and plays a heart. East wants a diamond ruff, but obtaining two ruffs seems highly unlikely — that would involve getting West in twice.

Meanwhile, if West has only one entry, East must find it right away, or he will lose the ruff. If East had to guess which black suit to switch to, he would choose clubs, of course. The club ace would mean the defenders could score two club tricks, meaning the diamond ruff itself would be enough to set the hand. The same cannot be said of the spade suit, where there is at most one trick available.

However, East does not need to choose right away. He should hold up his heart ace for one round. If West began with two hearts, he could issue a suit-preference signal either by playing high-low to show spade strength, or by following upward to denote a club entry or no preference. As it is, West has a singleton in hearts and can give a much clearer signal by discarding a low club on the second heart as East takes the ace.

East now knows that there is no future in a club shift. He tries the spade seven, showing no interest in the suit. West therefore knows to take the spade ace and revert to diamonds, leading the 10 to force another honor from dummy. East scores a ruff, and West eventually wins a diamond trick for one down.

ANSWER: Lead the club five. I admit that it could be right to lead a spade. Picture partner with jack-10-low, for example, together with an entry. However, I would just lead an unbid suit. A club may find partner with a decent four-card suit or a bad five-carder.