ACES ON BRIDGE
“Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.”
— Abraham Lincoln
When West makes a pushy Michaels cue-bid, showing both majors, North uses the higher cue-bid as a club raise. The lower cue-bid would show the unbid suit and a good hand, and a call in the fourth suit would be non-forcing. After a quantitative four-notrump call, South offers a choice of strains, ending up in six clubs.
Declarer wins the diamond lead in hand, cashes the club ace (ouch!) and then plays the diamond ace and ruffs a diamond, a natural line, even if not best as the cards lie. After the three top trumps, declarer leads a heart to the ace — finally some good news!
If East ruffs the next heart, he must not exit with a diamond, or declarer will pitch a spade from hand and ruff in dummy, squeezing West in the majors. East can set the hand either by pitching on the heart queen or by ruffing and returning a spade.
Note that on the opening lead of the heart jack, declarer prevails if he ducks in dummy — not so easy! Declarer must then cash
the black aces and diamond king before running trumps, throwing East on lead with the last.
East must lead a diamond into the tenace, and now on the diamond winners South comes down to two hearts and the spade king, while dummy retains the heart queen and two spades. If West reduces to one heart, declarer cashes the heart queen and now holds the high hand. If West reduces to one spade, declarer takes the spade king, making dummy high! A crisscross squeeze. For the record, if East unblocks his trumps to avoid the endplay, South exits with the diamond jack for the same result.
ANSWER: Pass. A Michaels cue-bid to show the majors would be an overbid unless at favorable vulnerability. The enemy might double you or play the hand with a blueprint of the layout. While acting might set up a sacrifice or an efficient preempt, you want your partner to trust you when you make these calls. This hand just doesn't cut it. If your jack were the king or ace, you might tempt me.