ACES ON BRIDGE

“If men are to wait for liberty until they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.”

— Thomas Babington Macaulay

In today's Moysian example, declarer can counter a defensive force by turning his mind to a dummy reversal. Five diamonds might struggle on a trump lead, but four hearts also requires a fair amount of work. How should South play on repeated top spade leads?

There is no point in pitching at trick two; declarer would still have a club to lose, and he could emerge with a trump loser against a 4-2 break as well, so he cannot afford to lose two spade tricks.

South ruffs, then draws two rounds of trumps with the king and ace. Before drawing a third round of trumps, South ruffs a second spade in hand. Now a diamond to the king is followed by the trump queen, West throwing a spade. East has a trump trick now, but the bidding suggests that he will have no spades to play when he obtains the lead. Declarer can also place the club king to his right, given West's original pass.

Thus, rather than trying to establish club tricks himself, which would require East to hold the club jack, declarer simply plays on diamonds. What can East do?

If East ruffs at any stage, he will have to lead a club away from the king and concede the 10th trick. If East declines to ruff a diamond, South will score just one club trick, but four diamonds, again bringing him to a total of 10. In essence, declarer turns the spade force to his advantage to score two ruffs in the long hand. That extracts East's exit cards in spades, leaving him ripe for the throw-in.

ANSWER: There is no perfect call here. A bid of two diamonds would tend to suggest five cards, while a bid of two spades would advertise club support, and a leap to three no-trump would be overly committal with only a partial spade stopper. You could double, intending to cue-bid spades later, but partner might not work out your cunning plan. I would bid diamonds and plan a cue-bid next.