ACES ON BRIDGE

“Bid me despair, and I’ll despair, Under that cypress tree.”

— Robert Herrick

Try your hand at this play problem from the South seat. How would you play a four-heart contract on the lead of the spade 10?

The opening lead immediately tells you diamonds are 7- 0 because West would have led a singleton diamond. That gives East at least 11 pointed-suit cards. West will probably have a trump trick, but he will also be guarding the clubs. Where, then, will your 10th trick come from?

East will surely have the spade king, so finessing at trick one will not work, but don’t despair. You should try to elope with spade ruffs in hand to score your small trumps. Start by taking the spade ace and then ruffing a spade. You next cash the heart ace, everyone following low. Do not cash another trump now; that would gain a trick only if East had been dealt queen-doubleton in the trump suit. It is much more likely that East is 1-1 in his short suits than 2-0, and in the latter case, a small doubleton in hearts would not help you anyway.

You must preserve your heart tenace and play on clubs now instead, leading the nine to dummy’s king as East follows. You then ruff a spade, cash the club ace as East discards and play another club to the queen before ruffing a club in hand. Down to the heart king-jack and three diamonds, you exit on a diamond and wait. West will have to ruff one of his partner’s diamond winners and lead from his heart queen at trick 12.

Without those three spade ruffs, you would not be able to achieve the trump endplay.

ANSWER: You have great playing strength in support of spades. As little as queen-jackfifth in spades will make a good game contract, but a raise to four spades normally shows a balanced 18-19. The bid here is four diamonds, showing a long, strong diamond suit with four-card spade support and the values for game. I would be much happier with another spade intermediate or minor honor, of course.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com