ACES ON BRIDGE

This week’s deals are all based on blocking plays by declarer.

Here, declarer faces an attack on two fronts in three no-trump. After North makes an invitational raise of South’s strong no-trump, a 16-count with fair intermediates warrants an acceptance. West attacks with the diamond 10, and declarer can immediately place at least one of the top diamond honors to his right. West would surely lead an honor from king-queen-10-nine. Thus, inserting the jack at trick one could only serve to unblock the suit for the defenders.

Since declarer must lose the lead in hearts while establishing his tricks, he should guard against West’s holding five diamonds and the heart ace. He must also take steps to prevent a possibly fatal spade shift, so ducking in diamonds would be dangerous. At trick two,

West would continue the suit: If declarer played the jack to block the diamonds, East could win and shift to the spade 10.

So South calls for the diamond ace at trick one instead, then leads a heart to the king. West wins the ace, leads a low diamond to the queen, and East perforce shifts to a spade.

When declarer takes the ace and cashes out the hearts, he knows that West has three more diamonds than East. East is thus favored to have the club queen. So declarer leads the club jack to the king, both tempting a cover from West and to unblock that suit. The odds then favor a finesse in clubs. When the 10 holds, South has nine tricks. ANSWER: Attack with a small club. It pays to lead aggressively when declarer has preempted (suggesting a weak hand), but one should temper that aggression with common sense. A club is the right compromise, being from the king, but also from length. This is not the hand to play for heart ruffs, since you appear to have natural trump tricks.