ACES ON BRIDGE

preempt, have two Since of his East no-trump been suits he wanted but did in, far a not would call he too to feel compromised act of much, four have over he no-trump could while the been two-spade get by a natural. bid would introducing both of to run for to his penalties. diamonds better five-card South’s if enthusiastically practical suit, planning jump doubled to four West hearts obediently ended led the a auction. club (a trump would have been a plausible alternative). East won the lead with his 10 and reasoned that South would probably seek diamond ruffs in dummy. South did not appear to have a spade fit, and if he did, there was not much the defense could do. So East shifted to a trump at trick two.

Declarer won in dummy to lead a diamond, and East thoughtfully played low, hoping to give declarer a guess if he held the diamond king. It was likely that South would be making his contract if he was allowed to score a diamond trick.

When declarer put up the diamond queen, it lost to West’s king. Unluckily for South, West had the remaining trump and could denude dummy of a ruff. Declarer was left with two more unavoidable diamond losers.

Declarer missed an extra chance here. East would hardly play low on the diamond if he had both the ace and king. Finessing the diamond nine was a nocost shot. Here, it would have forced the king, and eventually declarer could have driven out the diamond ace to establish his game-going trick.

ANSWER: Lead the heart three. It could be that a heart lead presents declarer with his ninth trick, but anything else would be a complete shot in the dark. With you holding the ace, East’s heart stoppers might not be as secure as he thinks, and declarer may still be faced with a guess in the suit on the next round.