ACES ON BRIDGE

“But things like that, you know, must be At every famous victory.”

— Robert Southey

When North raises his partner's strong no-trump opening directly to game, West makes the normal opening lead of the heart three.

South's best play seems to be to try the diamond finesse sooner rather than later. If the finesse succeeds, there will be tricks to burn. If the diamond finesse should lose, however, the enemy may shift to clubs and defeat the contract. How can they be persuaded to stay away from that suit?

The best way to distract their attention is to win East's heart jack with the ace! This may create the impression in West's mind that his partner holds the heart queen. When West later gains the lead with the diamond king, he may return a low heart out of fear of blocking the suit, letting South make an overtrick.

If the diamond finesse had succeeded, South would have invested a heart trick by his play at the first trick; a sound form of insurance.

Arguably, if West trusts his partner, he should continue with the heart king at trick four, reasoning that East would unblock the queen if he had it. When that fetches East's nine, West can place the heart queen with declarer and will shift to clubs as his only chance of setting the contract.

East should see it is best to continue clubs after winning the ace.

He can reason that West would cash the heart queen, not the king, if he held both cards. Or he would have shifted to a high club spot; in such positions, shifting to a low club should suggest real interest there.

ANSWER: Bid two diamonds. The textbooks suggest that a twolevel overcall should show the values for an opening bid, but this is not really the case. It is important to get your strong six-card suit into the game. If you had only five diamonds, you would pass, of course. Facing a passed partner, I might preempt if non-vulnerable, but this hand is too defensive in nature for that plan to be ideal in this position.