ACES ON BRIDGE

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

— Francis Bacon

North followed a Smolen sequence here to show precisely four spades and longer hearts, after which South bid three no-trump.

On the diamond lead, declarer saw that his communications were snarled up. If he played on hearts, establishing the long card when they split 4-2, he wouldn’t be able to cash all three top clubs, either before giving up the fourth heart, when the defense would have five tricks to cash, or afterward, when he would lack the entries to score the top clubs. It might have been right to hope for 4-3 clubs and go after that suit — unblocking the club queen then crossing to the heart ace to duck a club. But if the defenders continued hearts, declarer would need to take both of dummy’s heart honors, again setting up too many tricks for the defense before declarer could reach his hand in diamonds.

South preferred a psychological approach. He played a low spade from dummy at trick two. If diamonds were 4-3, he would be fine, but even if they were 5-2, both spade honors might be with East, or the defenders might fail to preserve an entry to the long diamonds. East was wide awake, though, and flew up with the king to clear the diamonds. With hearts splitting 4-2, declarer could not reach nine tricks without the aid of the spades, and West cashed out for one down.

Had East ducked the first spade, West might duck his ace to retain his entry, but declarer would then unblock clubs and revert to diamonds.

ANSWER: Jump to three spades. Forget about your diamonds — four spades is the contract you should have your heart set on. You have enough to invite game with your two aces and extra shape, so jump to three spades and let partner bid on with extra shape or high cards. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at

BOBBY WOLFF