ACES ON BRIDGE
“The trouble with theorists is, they never pay attention to the experiments!”
— Valentine Telegdi Today’s deal is a modification of one originally by well-known expert and teacher Larry Cohen.
West takes advantage of the favorable vulnerability to venture a one-spade overcall, and soon winds up on lead against three no-trump. West has no attractive alternative to the spade lead, and as little as the queen or 10 opposite could get the spades going on defense.
Declarer ducks East’s spade queen but wins the second round since the 5-2 split is marked on the bidding. Of course, if declarer were to play low at trick two, West would be able to overtake and continue the suit, thanks to the fall of the spade nine.
At trick three, South has to choose which minor suit to go after. Since a club play will be immediately fatal if West has both honors, declarer tries diamonds first, advancing the nine. West must cover this, protecting his partner’s holding, and declarer takes the ace. South might return to a heart and finesse the diamond 10 now. That would be fatal, as the defenders would have time to set up hearts. Playing diamonds from the top at trick four would work as the cards lie, but not if West held the diamond jack.
Declarer can do much better if he starts with a diamond to the 10, still picking up the suit if West has the queen and jack, while not disrupting his entry position. Now, if East wins the diamond and switches to hearts, declarer can win in dummy, cash the top diamonds and then set up the fourth diamond. He can then use his heart entries to hand to fall back on taking two club finesses, developing his ninth winner.
ANSWER: This is an unenviable toss-up. With spades likely to prove a source of discards for declarer’s losers, are you better off trying to set up or cash a club trick, or going after the unbid suit? In these situations, where a second-round club winner is not likely to stand up, I trust the opponents and lead a heart. Fool me once …