ACES ON BRIDGE
Our deals this week come from the final of the Crockfords Cup in England.
North showed a game-force, and South gave preference to spades in case North had six of them. When North sensibly offered three no-trump, South gladly accepted.As West, Mike Bell chose to lead a low heart rather than the jack (since dummy was quite likely to have a singleton or doubleton honor). This worked perfectly when declarer called for the queen. East, Sarah Bell, won with her ace and returned the heart six to West’s 10. Now the club switch ended the contract’s chances, with East able to win and clear clubs. Declarer could have escaped for down one by working on spades, but he played off the diamond ace-king instead and wound up two down.
There was no rush to put up the heart queen at trick one, with South’s nineeight poised to provide a second stopper. It would have been best to play low in case the actual position existed. That would have given declarer two heart winners, and East would have been unable to attack clubs from her side of the table.
In the other room, West led the heart jack, covered by the queen and ace. Declarer, Stefano Tommasini, won the heart continuation with the king and played a spade to the 10, preserving his jack as an entry to hand.
With East on lead, and still unable to go after clubs, the defense was helpless. A spade was the only lead not to set up the ninth trick for declarer at once. On any return but a spade, South can set up diamonds. ANSWER: Lead the spade jack. Anything could be right, but a trump lead may burn a tempo, and banging down one of your aces could easily cost a trick, given that there was an opening bid on your right. Leading the spade jack from a sequence strikes the right balance. Even if you set up a slow spade winner for the opponents, you should be able to cash your aces before the discard can be utilized.