aces on bridge

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” -- George S. Patton

The North hand offers a real problem in standard bidding after West stretches to double a one-spade opener from South. North had a conventional gadget up his sleeve here: He was playing a jump in hearts (the other major) to be a mixed raise in spades. This suggested four trumps and slightly less than a limit raise, but more than pre-emptive values. South now had enough to drive to game.

When West led the club king, South tried to encourage the defenders to continue attacking clubs by dropping the nine, trying to give the West the impression that East’s play of the club three was the beginning of a signal. If West had taken his club ace, it would have set up South’s club queen.

As it happened, West, accustomed to South’s wiles, decided to shift to a red suit. Logically enough, he tried the heart queen, and now South continued his devious ways by contributing a low heart from both hands, hoping that West would assume that his partner had the heart ace.

Maybe West might have focused on East’s low heart at this trick, but he can hardly be blamed for pressing on with another heart. Now South came into his own. He took the heart ace, drew trumps, discarded the diamond king on dummy’s heart king and ruffed out the diamond ace. He could get back to dummy with a trump, to discard two clubs on dummy’s two good diamonds, and another “unmakable” contract had come home.

ANSWER: They say the perfect is the enemy of the good. While you could explore for an ideal fit for a club game or slam, what is in front of your nose is a hand that should play in part-score or game in spades. You may have 17 HCP, but your honors in your short suits aren’t pulling their weight. Treat the hand as a spade invitation by jumping to three spades. If partner cannot bid game, it won’t be a good contract.