Bridge

On today’s deal there were distractions to make East’s defense against three no-trump harder.

Consider what happens when partner leads the heart eight and declarer plays the queen from dummy. (Sensibly, you are not playing MUD or the top from three small in partner’s suit, so this lead guarantees that West has at most a doubleton heart.) It feels so automatic for you to beat dummy’s queen with your king that it is hard to stop and think. While that may well be the right defense to stop the overtricks, what if your objective is the laudable one of trying to set the game?

From the auction and opening lead, declarer is marked with at least four cards to the 10-9 in hearts. If you win the heart king, you will only be able to take your three winners, and the auction has surely made it impossible for partner to contribute two tricks on defense. However, if you play low on the heart queen, you retain communications for your side, so all you will need is for partner to hold the diamond ace. When West gets the lead with that card, he will be able to play another heart to let you take four more tricks.

If partner began life with a singleton heart, it is unlikely that you could ever have beaten the contract, whatever you did. Note also that if declarer had played low from dummy at trick one, then you would have had to play low also (rather than inserting the jack) to preserve your entry to the suit.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Although there is nothing technically wrong with a bid of one heart, I prefer to bid one no-trump now. I do not mind bypassing a poor four-card major to emphasize my values and general hand-pattern, particularly when hearts may be splitting badly.