ACES ON BRIDGE

West led the spade 10 against three notrump, using a style where the lead of the 10 or nine would show zero or two higher honors. Declarer knew the spade finesse would lose, so he played low from the board, won the lead in hand and ran the heart jack to the queen.

On lead to trick two, East could see from declarer’s decision that he was likely to have five diamond tricks and three black-suit winners. South surely held the heart 10 to play like this, so, left to his own devices, he would lead a heart to establish his ninth trick.

East took his only chance by switching to clubs. Since he needed his partner to have the king, and without considering the implications, he played his lowest club despite his partnership’s agreement of leading fourth-highest. West put up his king, leaving declarer with a number of options.

Winning the first or second club would have been fatal if South had next either taken the spade finesse or played a second heart. However, instead of playing to try to drop the spade queen, South decided to delay that play. He won the second club (East following with the nine) and ran all the diamonds, on which East carefully pitched two small hearts and the club jack.

This final piece of deception convinced South that East had come down to one club, the heart queen and queen-doubleton in spades. He therefore exited with a heart, trying for the endplay, and East cashed three winners, giving declarer the last trick for one down. ANSWER: Lead the club five. Partner has doubled a freely bid game, and he would not have done so on the strength of spade tricks in your agreed suit, which he knows he might never cash. He probably has club tricks, so lead a club before declarer gets the hearts going. Your heart length makes leading that suit unattractive.