ACES ON BRIDGE

Bridge writers occasionally introduce a deal as taking place in a local competition or in a knockout match; this seems to be a way to add a touch of verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. Be that as it may, today’s deal really did crop up in a knockout match, I swear on the bones of Saint Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalism. Both declarers missed the point of this deal — though one earned a consolation prize for envisioning the problem, even if he didn’t quite put the defenders under maximum pressure.

Each South reached slam after North had forced in diamonds then invited slam in four notrump. In one room, South won the club lead in dummy, played a diamond to the jack and then lost two diamonds and a spade. In the other room, declarer won the heart lead and passed the spade jack. East thoughtfully ducked, confident declarer had four spades from his partner’s low spot-card on that trick.

Now declarer safety-played the diamonds by laying down the king, trying to protect against a 4-1 diamond break, and eventually lost a diamond and a spade. If East had taken his spade king, South might have guessed to start diamonds by playing the ace, after which he could have finessed against East’s remaining spots. (Without the diamond seven, leading low to the jack on the first round is the right play for no losers.)

But would East have ducked the first spade if declarer had first led low to the queen? I doubt it!