Should you double a slam with two aces

To bid and make a Small Slam, only one trick can be lost. But a defender holding two aces should not necessarily double a Small Slam - the opponents are likely to have a void somewhere so one of your aces may not win a trick. That said, you have to feel sympathy for this week’s East who, holding no less than three aces, watched his opponents bid and make a Small Slam. Here is the hand:

West led ♠ Q and dummy and East played low, declarer trumping. Correctly resisting the temptation to trump ♦s, declarer realised that by far the easiest route to 12 tricks was to draw trumps then - assuming trumps split 2-1 - establish ♣s by knocking out ♣ A. He cashed ♥ Q and ♥ J then led ♣ 10. East ducked his ♣ A, then won ♣ 4 to dummy’s ♣ J. He had no sensible return so simply exited with ♣ 3. Declarer was able to enjoy dummy’s three established ♣s discarding ♦ 1086 from hand, trump ♠ 4, trump ♦ K with ♥ K, then table his remaining cards, all trumps.
Last week we saw that it was a mistake to double a Slam if you would be unhappy should the opponents remove themselves to an alternative contract. This week we see that holding two - even three - aces is not a good enough reason to double.

ANDREW’S TIP: Do not double a freely bid Small Slam on the basis of holding two - even three - aces.