ACES ON BRIDGE

In today’s deal from the 2018 Rosenblum in Orlando, Florida, there were two different game contracts available.

In one match, Yvonne Wiseman and Nicola Smith got to the best game. Smith (South) balanced with three hearts over West’s three-diamond preempt. Wiseman then tried three notrump and played there on a club lead. She won in hand and guessed hearts, emerging with an overtrick.

In the other room, Cathy Baldysz raised her daughter Sofia’s three-heart balance to four. Sofia Baldysz won the club lead in dummy and also negotiated trumps successfully, but when she exited with a heart intermediate to East, a diamond shift left her with two losing options. She could finesse and immediately suffer a ruff, or go up with the ace and let West cash two diamond winners when in with the spade ace.

Should declarer have found the winning line of playing a spade at trick two? West would probably take her ace, but be endplayed into returning a spade. Declarer ruffs in hand and plays the heart ace, king and an intermediate to East, who shifts to a diamond. Declarer rises, draws the last trump, then plays three more rounds of clubs, endplaying East to lead spades into the tenace, so the diamonds go away.

Diyan Danailov and Mike Bell were the only two declarers to follow this line of play. Note that even if clubs are 4-1 and the spade ace is with East, as you might expect, West may only be ruffing a loser on a club return, jeopardizing her side’s trump tricks.