ACES ON BRIDGE

3 NT* All pass

*Gambling

Opening Lead: Spade four

South’s three-no-trump opening showed a solid seven-card minor and little else. North passed, expecting to concede a small minus, but with just a little hope that West would choose the wrong lead and let the contract make.

West opted to lead spades, of course. Rather than leading the ace (which might have been more flexible by allowing a shift if spades seemed hopeless after seeing the dummy), he selected the four.

Declarer reasoned that West would have led the 10 from an honor 10-nine holding, so he inserted the jack; when it held, he was up to eight tricks. What next? One option was to cross to hand and lead up to the spade king. Alternatively, he could play up to the heart king, though he did not know whether the ace was well-placed.

South saw that if he came to hand on a club and led a spade up, West would take the ace and there would be no entry to the spade king in dummy. Declarer would wind up needing the heart ace onside anyway. Worse still, West might return a club. Declarer would then have to run the clubs, inexorably squeezing the dummy.

Given that declarer could see he would need the heart ace onside, he made his best play by crossing to hand in clubs and playing a heart up. West took the heart ace, but declarer still had an entry to his clubs plus a heart in hand to reach dummy’s king.

At trick two, declarer maximized his chances by leading the club jack, overtaking it when East followed. That maneuver unblocked the suit just in case East had 10-fourth.

ANSWER: Overcall one heart. This weak hand has some potential facing a fit, but an Unusual Two-No-Trump overcall would be too much, except at favorable vulnerability. I would make the two-suited call with one or both red jacks, though. You could bid one diamond for the lead, but I leave such actions to the mavericks of the game.