ACES ON BRIDGE

“One cannot continually disappoint a continent.”

— James Whistler

After four matches in the 1998 Cap Gemini World Pairs Invitational, the local supporters were delighted to see Piet Jansen and Jan Westerhof of the Netherlands atop the table. Then they met Tor Helness and Geir Helgemo on Vugraph and lost out, mainly because of the following hand.

It looks as if North-South had done well in the auction, since the diamond game appeared to depend simply on the winning diamond finesse. But there was more to it than that. Helgemo found the diabolical lead of the heart four! When Westerhof played low from dummy, Helness had no trouble in putting up the heart king. (He knew his partner’s larcenous tendencies and could see that if declarer had the heart ace, the game would surely be laydown).

Helness now did very well when he switched to the diamond four before declarer could discover the deception in the heart suit. Had he not done so, declarer might have played a second heart himself and exposed the ruse.

From this defense, Westerhof reasonably deduced that East was likely to hold the ace and king of hearts. Accordingly, his only chance would be finding the bare diamond king with West, since otherwise there would not be enough high cards to justify an opening bid. So he tried to drop the singleton king of trumps and failed in his contract.

After that point, the Dutch pair headed south in the field, while Helness-Helgemo went on to take third place.

ANSWER: Clearly your next call will be in no-trump. To bid three clubs would show clubs and hearts and be game-forcing, but you are an ace short of that action. This hand looks like an invitation, not a game force. Yes, you have great club spots, but let partner decide whether he has a minimum or maximum.