Aces on Bridge

Today’s deal is the last of this week’s themed hands, in each of which declarer has to play a single suit to best advantage with length in one hand and a singleton in the other.

As I look through the hands, I am struck by the fact that such similar combinations have such disparate solutions. No wonder bridge players go gray so early!

In today’s deal, South opens and closes the auction with a call of two hearts. When West leads the club 10, he appears to be relatively short of clubs — the threat of trump promotions is a real one. Declarer must start to draw trumps at once, and he can afford to lose two trump tricks but not three.

He wins the club lead in dummy and leads a heart to the king. If this loses to the ace, he will regain the lead and play the queen of hearts, then the nine. But when the heart king holds, declarer must decide which trump to lead next.

If East has the bare heart ace left, then declarer must lead a low heart from hand; but there is a much better chance that one defender or the other is left with a bare jack or 10 of hearts. (Note that to give himself a chance to set the contract, West would have to duck the heart ace if he started with A-J-fourth or A-10-fourth of hearts.) By leading out his remaining top honor, he can pin the jack or 10 and remain in control, losing just two trumps and three plain-suit top cards.