ACES ON BRIDGE

“All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.” — Robert Southey

Today’s deal comes from the 2017 match between England and Ireland in the U.K. Home Internationals series. Tony Forrester found a highly imaginative defense here, to defeat a cold game.

In one room, the English pair had stayed out of game, having settled at three spades. So the Irish looked likely to pick up a sizable swing when they bid to the delicate four-heart contract.

Forrester kicked off with the spade king, and when it held, he shifted to the diamond queen, in case declarer held the singleton jack. Declarer John Carroll played a trump now. When his king won, he ruffed his losing diamond in hand and played a second trump to the ace.

Now Forrester’s partner, David Bakhshi, won and returned a diamond. Carroll took this and drew the last trumps, then had to decide which black suit to develop. Since Bakhshi had suggested an even number of spades at the first trick, it looked as if spades were 4-2. So Carroll discarded two spades from dummy and played a club to the ace. So far, so good, but when Forrester dropped the club king under the ace, it led declarer up the garden path.

Carroll took this card at face value and played Bakhshi to have started with precisely 3=3=3=4 shape. He cashed the spade ace, ruffed a spade in dummy and, in the three-card ending, exited with a club from dummy, attempting to endplay East in clubs. However, when Bakhshi won the club, he could lead a diamond and let Forrester win the last two tricks.

ANSWER: In the olden days, I would have responded two no-trump here without a second thought. I can, however, see that with a hand that is a clear slam-try facing whatever suit my partner has, I might be better advised to temporize with two diamonds. If my partner has a two-suiter with spades, this saves valuable space.