ACES ON BRIDGE

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

— Francis Bacon We shall see two contracts on the same deal today: one declared by North, one by South. The board comes from the 2014 European Team Championships.

In the women’s match between Poland and the Netherlands, Wietske van Zwol, West, showed the unbid suits. Carla Arnolds, East, now sold out to four spades, leaving West a tough lead.

Her choice of a heart let declarer win the queen and pitch a club on the heart ace. Now declarer should have simply finessed in diamonds, then cashed the top spades and run diamonds for 10 tricks. But declarer played the ace-king of trumps first and, after a further misjudgment, ended down four.

However, at the table where Poland sat East-West, Ewa Miszewska as West made her two- suited overcall a level higher. Now Danuta Kazmucha, East, bid four no-trump over four spades to offer a choice of contracts. Marion Michielsen, South, bid on to five diamonds, promptly doubled by West.

Had East led either of her side’s suits against North’s five- diamond contract, it would have failed by a trick; however, she led the spade two. Perhaps she took her partner’s double of five diamonds as Lightner, showing a spade void. The spade two was intended as suit-preference for clubs.

The spade lead proved to be fatal to the defense. Declarer Meike Wortel put up dummy’s 10, took a finesse of the trump jack, then eliminated the hearts while drawing trumps. She could then exit with a club, and whichever defender was on lead after the second club would be endplayed.

ANSWER: Lead the heart ace. There is no rush to play your singleton. Lay down a top heart first to see dummy and receive a signal from partner. You will be better positioned to plan the defense at trick two. By leading the unusual card from your ace-king, you may wake partner up to the fact that you are about to shift to a singleton. If your partnership agreement is normally to lead the ace from ace-king, then lead the king here.