The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, 7 February 2026

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, 7 February 2026

Barry Rigal
Author

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If there were dreams to sell,
What would you buy?

Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Take the South seat here, declaring four hearts on a trump lead. You try the queen from dummy, and that holds. Play on.
You may have a trump loser and a loser in each of the other suits. In that case, you had better set up the clubs for a spade discard. That will be easy enough if clubs are 3-2, but a 4-1 split could prove troublesome.
The original declarer tried a club to the ace at trick two, followed by a diamond. He intended to cut the defensive communications while eventually reentering dummy to lead through the potential club void on his right, but all it served to do was sacrifice a tempo. West won and accurately switched to spades. Declarer took that with the spade king and played another club, but East discarded. West won the third round of clubs, whereupon a spade continuation ended declarer’s chances. East overruffed the fourth round of clubs and cashed a spade.
Declarer’s timing was off. He did not actually need the heart ace as an entry. It would have been better to cash it at trick three and then lead a low club from hand. This preserves the club king as a reentry. If the defense switches to spades, declarer wins in dummy, leads a club toward the king and ruffs a club. The difference here is that South still has the spade ace to control the suit and can eventually discard dummy’s third spade on a club.

Barry Rigal

Barry Rigal is an English-born bridge player, author, commentator, and journalist who has won major national titles in both the UK and the United States and served as a VuGraph commentator for decades at European and World championships. He has written and edited numerous bridge books and articles and has been President of the International Bridge Press Association, contributing widely to the game’s literature and education.

K65
QJ10872
K
753
J72
53
AJ92
Q986
N
W
E
S
Q1084
K96
Q10854
J
A93
A4
763
AK1042
W
N
E
S

Opening Lead: Heart three

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