ACES ON BRIDGE

“There is endless merit in a man’s knowing when to have done.”

— Thomas Carlyle .....................

North-South were playing two-overone, but North rebid two spades at his second turn to suggest at most a single spade stopper. He could have bid two no-trump, but this might have wrongsided game facing a doubleton queen, for example. South was now able to bid two no-trump and then four no-trump to show 18-19, after which North bid the slam.

West led a spade, and declarer counted 10 top tricks. Cover up the East and West cards and decide on the best way forward.

The hearts would not set up in time, even on a 3-3 split, so declarer looked to the clubs. Anything would work if clubs were 3-3 or 4-2, so declarer considered the 5-1 split. If East had five, declarer could succeed only if West had the singleton queen, but there were more possibilities if West had the length.

Declarer advanced the club 10 from hand at trick two, covered by the queen and ace as East dropped the seven. Declarer then reentered his hand with a spade to lead another club, covering West’s three. The club five held, so declarer had his 12th trick. Because dummy’s pips were powerful enough to force a fourth trick, it would not have helped West to split his nine-eight.

This line would succeed against a singleton nine, eight or seven with East, while starting with a small club to the ace would pick off only a singleton queen in either hand; that is three cases to two in favor of the chosen approach. If the club five were the four, you would be better advised to cash the club ace instead!

ANSWER: Lead the heart jack. Anything could be right, but a heart is the least likely lead to blow a trick, being from a sequence, and it may establish tricks as well. In situations like this, my approach tends to be to try not to let the contract through, as opposed to trying to beat it outright. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com. Copyright 2024, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS