ACES ON BRIDGE

When South became declarer in three no-trump after an inverted minor raise, West kicked off with the fourth-highest spade three.

Naturally enough, declarer won with dummy’s spade queen (the ace would reveal who had the king), and finessed the club jack. West held off smoothly, at which point declarer crossed back to dummy with a diamond to the 10 (also smartly ducked) and repeated the club finesse. Unfortunately for declarer, West won and intelligently returned a diamond, East clearing the suit. South could not come to nine tricks without the hearts and had to lose the lead to East, who ran the diamonds for one down.

Both defenders did extremely well to hold up their minor-suit honors, but declarer was slightly careless. At trick three, South should have tried to enter dummy in hearts, not diamonds.

A heart to the king draws the ace, and East returns a spade. Declarer wins the spade return in dummy and leads a club to the 10.

In with the club king now, West can do no harm. He can play a third spade, setting up a winner for his side, but declarer simply unblocks the club ace and drives out the diamond ace, forcing an entry to dummy’s club queen on the way.

Incidentally, if East wins the heart ace at trick three and returns a low heart, declarer must put up the queen, then arrange to cross to dummy in diamonds and repeat the club finesse. This ensures three tricks in each black suit plus three red winners.

ANSWER: Lead the diamond king. There is little need to attack in clubs just yet, since you are likely to need a diamond trick to defeat this anyway. Bank your trick and look elsewhere, leading the diamond king while you are at it, in order to try to retain the lead for a switch through dummy, the strong hand — though partner may overtake if he can see it is right to do so.