ACES ON BRIDGE

Declarer must exercise caution on two counts in today’s deal, after brushing East’s oneheart opening aside to reach the spade game. As an aside, though, perhaps South should have taken a slower route, intending to offer three no-trump if he found North with a heart stopper.

As it is, declarer wins the heart lead and, noting that the spade ace and diamond king are surely located to his right, crosses to the diamond ace to lead a low trump from dummy. This way, when East has the singleton spade ace, declarer retains all his high trumps to deal with a possible trump promotion.

South ruffs the third heart high and draws trumps, starting with a low one to the 10 as anyone would. He pitches the diamond queen from dummy on the fourth round. East can throw a heart and a diamond on two of those, but the last trump turns the screw in three suits. A heart discard would see the squeeze repeat in a humiliating way, so East lets go either a club or a diamond, surrendering just one trick. That holds declarer to his contract with no overtrick — scant consolation.

Declarer also could have thrown dummy’s heart on the final trump, in which case East would be squeezed in the minors. Forced to keep his guard in each minor, he would throw his last heart, allowing declarer to set up his diamond jack. South can choose how to torture East here, either by a triple squeeze or a squeeze without the count — where the lead will be lost after the squeeze bites.