ACES ON BRIDGE

Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.

— John Selden In today’s deal, South’s jump to three spades is not forcing. North might pass with a really bad hand. If he does, South would be better off staying out of game. But as it happens, North has more than enough to bid on. Lacking any spade support, North might try for game at notrump, in which case South would have no reason to overrule his decision. In this case, though, North is correct to raise spades, since a club lead by East gives the defenders five tricks before declarer obtains the lead.

In four spades, South must win the first diamond in his hand, leaving dummy’s ace as a later entry for a heart trick. He next draws one round of trumps, but must then attack hearts by leading to the 10. West signals count, letting East know he should duck the trick.

When dummy’s 10 holds, South can get back to his hand using dummy’s remaining trump. He then draws

East’s last trump and runs a few more for good measure. This cannot hurt him and may embarrass the defenders.

Finally, South leads his second heart to dummy’s jack. This time, East wins and shifts to a club honor, letting the defenders take two club tricks. But declarer now has the rest.

If South had drawn all the trumps before leading hearts, he would have been unable to cross back to hand safely after dummy had won the first heart. He would have had to lead clubs. The defenders would take their two club tricks and knock out the diamond king before South had the chance to lead a second heart.

All pass

ANSWER: When faced with a blind opening lead against one no-trump, don’t fall for the idea that you should always lead a major rather than a minor. Look for a good lead first; only when in doubt should you favor the major. Here, a club is a far safer lead than a major. I’d go with the club two, not the 10, but either card could be right.