ACES ON BRIDGE

The defenders did not star in today’s deal, on which North’s raise to four spades was aggressive. However, he did have a good spade filler and a source of tricks, which could have been enough opposite a vulnerable pre-empt.

East took the lead with the heart ace and continued with the king, as suit preference for diamonds. Declarer ruffed with the six, crossed to a top club and ran the spade jack to West’s king.

Helped by East’s signal, West shifted to the diamond six, playing fourth-highest leads, giving East a dilemma once he took dummy’s king with the ace. Would another diamond trick cash? Or did West begin with K-10-x in spades, meaning a trump promotion was in order on a third round of hearts? Declarer had concealed the diamond two, trying to disguise the position. East eventually identified West as having a five-card diamond suit, so he shifted back to hearts and the contract came home. Perhaps East could have worked out that West, who was unlikely to hold as few as two diamonds, would have shifted to a higher diamond without the queen, but the real fault lay with his partner. West should have led the diamond queen at trick five. This might save declarer a guess, but given the early play and bidding, it was hardly one he would get wrong. This defense would have taken away East’s losing option. Declarer still could have succeeded by cashing the spade ace and throwing a diamond on the fourth club, but who would do that?