aceS on bridge

“Few are qualified to shine in company, but it is in most men’s power to be agreeable.”

-- Jonathan Swift

On an unopposed sequence, Gaylor Kasle declared six hearts as South. (It might be better not to ask why, but it involved North’s missorting his hand.) He received the spade queen lead, and he won dummy’s king and drew four rounds of trump while East pitched a couple of diamonds and a couple of spades.

Now the simple analysis might be to assume that since West has four hearts and East none, West (who must hold the club king to give you a chance) is more likely to have the doubleton king than four clubs to the K-10.

However, Kasle saw there was no need to commit himself at once. He carefully found out more about the hand by playing ace and a second diamond toward the queen. East took his king and declarer saw the spade nine discarded on his left, after some thought.

Now the odds in clubs had changed dramatically. Since his LHO had started with five red cards and his RHO with six, the odds favored the double finesse in clubs rather than playing for the doubleton king onside -- and that is what Kasle did, by running the club jack. When it was covered, he crossed back to hand to repeat the club finesse against the 10 to bring home the contract.

ANSWER: Here a call of two no-trump describes your values precisely. There is no reason to do more; your partner is not marked with real clubs -- he could easily have a balanced minimum with just four clubs. However, the more clubs he has, the fewer values he will possess, given his pass at his second turn. It is easy to imagine that a club partscore might be your safest spot -- but let your partner judge that for himself.