The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

North judged his hand strong enough to force to game facing a two-level negative double, and since he lacked a heart stopper or four-card spade support, he cue-bid the enemy suit. South had a great deal extra too, but lacking a diamond fit, he jumped to four no-trump – quantitative

Opening Lead: ♥J

North chose to accept on the basis of his long diamonds.

West led the heart jack, East encouraging with the nine as declarer won the king. East had to duck; for all he knew, South had king-10-low in hearts, where taking the ace would immediately gift a trick. Declarer saw 11 toppers and would eventually work on diamonds for another, but there was no rush. After cashing the diamond ace and seeing everyone follow small, declarer started running his black-suit tricks. To his surprise, East followed to only two spades and one club, leaving him, presumably, with four diamonds. East would have overcalled three hearts with ace-queen-10-nine-seventh at favorable vulnerability, or won the first trick with the heart ace.

This development did not bode well for the diamond finesse. Still, declarer kept with it. He cashed the remaining black-suit cards, East reducing to two diamonds and one heart. The key question is: which heart?

East could envisage the risk of being thrown in with a top heart to lead around to the diamond tenace, so he smartly jettisoned the heart queen and heart ace, leaving the heart nine in hand. Declarer still exited on a heart, hoping West had started with jack-nine doubleton, but it was not to be. West gratefully collected in the second round of hearts and cashed his club tricks – down two.

Bid with the Aces

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