Bridge Play

Against today’s four spades, West had a reason for leading his ace of trumps: to see dummy. Many players might have done the same, forgetting that they get to see dummy whatever they lead.

Having seen dummy and its weakness in hearts, West switched to the deuce: four, queen, ace. South then took the K-A of diamonds and ruffed a diamond. When East-West followed, he drew trumps and took the two good diamonds for heart discards. East got his ace of clubs, but South made an overtrick.

OMINOUS

Another reason for leading the ace of trumps: You can see what lead would’ve been better. On the bidding, dummy would have a diamond suit — maybe a good one — and West’s diamond holding was ominous. There was danger that South would use the suit for discards.

In such a case, a defender may lead aggressively, hoping for fast tricks before declarer gets discards. So West could lead an attacking low heart. As it happens, he sets up two heart tricks to go with the defenders’ black-suit aces.

DAILY QUESTION

South dealer N-S vulnerable

NORTH K93 854 A10842 K10

KJ72 J63 J7642

EAST

75

Q96 Q97 A9853

SOUTH QJ108642 A 10 3

K5

Q

Opening lead — Choose it

You hold: ♠ K93 ♥ 854 ♦ A10842 ♣ K 10. The dealer, at your left, opens two hearts (weak). Your partner doubles, and the next player passes. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner has a good hand with support for the unbid suits. Jump to four diamonds, inviting game. You would bid three diamonds with a much weaker hand. Some pairs use the Lebensohl convention here: A bid of three diamonds would encourage; a bid of 2NT would plead weakness.