ACES ON BRIDGE

“You need to try to do the impossible, to anticipate the unexpected. And when the unexpected happens, you should double the efforts to make order from the disorder it creates in your life.”

— A.S. Grove

Today’s deal from the 2001 Cavendish Invitational teams event is a curiosity: How often do you gain IMPs for going five down in a freely bid game?

At one table, where Jon Wittes and Ross Grabel of the Onstott team were East and West, respectively, their opponent in the North seat opened two spades. I’m not sure I agree with that action, and not just because the spade suit isn’t really strong enough for it. The problem is that the hand is so playable in two other denominations, and the combination of that with the two aces means that you will occasionally mislead your partner as to what your hand is all about. It rarely works as badly as it did today, however.

Over the two-spade pre-empt, Grabel (West) balanced with three diamonds, and Wittes bid three notrump. There the matter rested, and after a club lead, the defenders took seven clubs and two aces, which was down five for minus 500. No double, no trouble.

The auction from the other room was as shown here. Roger Bates was South and Jim Robison North, the latter judging the auction very nicely by staying silent initially, then more than making up for it later. As the auction progressed, he could infer his partner’s length in hearts, and the potential of his own hand increased even further.

After a spade lead, Bates was able to pitch his diamond and crossruff. With trumps splitting 1-1, the play was straightforward for plus 1,540 and a gain of 14 IMPs.

ANSWER: The simple choice is between the red suits. With what looks like a natural trump trick, you don’t seem to need ruffs. My instinct is to lead the sequence and try to develop tricks in diamonds, since leading hearts may set up a slow winner for the opponents.