ACES ON BRIDGE

How would you play today’s contract of six clubs after receiving a heart lead? It looks natural to play for a diamond ruff in dummy, and indeed that is the right approach. But there are some formalities to be observed if you are to give yourself the absolutely best chance.

When the deal came up, David Smith of Australia was at the helm, after an auction in which South’s delayed jump to five clubs suggested solid clubs together with some extra values on the side. After winning the heart ace, he made the careful move of ruffing a heart in hand to protect himself against the somewhat unlikely but by no means impossible bad break in clubs. Now came a diamond to the king and a heart ruff, the diamond ace and a diamond ruff, then the spade ace and a spade ruff as East pitched a heart.

At this point in the deal, declarer had cashed four winners and taken three ruffs in hand and one in dummy to reduce to a five-card ending. Smith now cashed two top trumps, ready to claim if they split. When they did not, he simply exited with his losing diamond and could claim the last two tricks no matter which defender won the trick, since he had the Q-10 of clubs poised over East’s guarded jack of trumps.

(Declarer has some flexibility in the timing, but must use his entries to dummy to ruff three times, reducing his trump holding to East’s length for the trump coup.)

ANSWER: You have only five hearts. Additionally, with a minimum hand and a slow trick on defense in the trump suit, it would be totally wrong to bid on. Just for reference, if your minor suits were switched, you would still not really have enough to bid three hearts, but the decision would be much closer. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at

BOBBY WOLFF