AceS On briDge

“Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it.”

— Bertolt Brecht

Most partnerships these days use a 15-17 no-trump opening bid rather than 16-18. The logic is that if you open most 12-counts, you do not want your rebid of one no-trump to be 12-15; that is an uncomfortably wide range for exploring game and slam.

In today’s deal, South has a little too much for the no-trump opener, despite his square pattern. Of course, any action South chooses should lead to his declaring a contract of three no-trump on a low heart lead.

The contract may appear to be in jeopardy, but South can prevail by using a maneuver that should be in everyone’s armory: the holdup. He merely delays taking his heart ace, playing small hearts on the first and second tricks and taking his ace on the third round of the suit.

What is the result of this approach? South knows that he will eventually finesse in diamonds into what he imagines will be the safe hand, East, since it is West who appears to have long hearts.

Note that when South leads the diamond queen, if East wins the finesse to shift to a spade, declarer will have to decide whether to take the spade finesse or play for diamonds to behave. Rising with the ace feels right to me.

However, when the diamond queen is covered with the king, as it is today, declarer comes back to hand in clubs and runs the diamond eight.

Whether the finesse of the diamond 10 wins or loses, he has nine tricks and does not need the spade finesse.