Aces on bridge

“Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.”

— Friedrich Schiller

Zia Mahmood achieved his first reportable coup of the 2001 Cavendish Invitational pairs competition on the very first deal. (“What took him so long ?” you might ask.) Zia, as South, opened one heart, and his partner, Billy Hisenberg, jumped to three clubs (systematically, to show a limit raise with four trumps or an unbalanced three-card limit raise). Zia tried a delicate six hearts, and Hspen Hrichsen, as West, led a spade to the king and ace.

When Zia advanced the club queen, Hrichsen won with the club king to play a second spade. At this point, Zia had to find the heart queen. He reasoned that Hrichsen’s decision to win the club king and return a spade (as opposed to a trump, or instead of letting his partner win the club ace) meant that he must have the heart queen.

Accordingly, Zia, who has never lacked the courage of his convictions, ruffed the spade return and ran the heart jack to make his slam.

I was lucky enough to make the slam against world champion opponents after the defense cashed the club ace and tried to cash the spade ace. Now there were enough inferences for me to negotiate the trump suit, though it was by no means a foregone conclusion to get it right.

While I was happy with my result, I will not name the declarer who made a more expensive play. At another table, Ishmael Fel’Monte and Neville Hber got to defend against six diamonds doubled, but declarer misguessed hearts, turning a huge potential gain into a huge loss.

ANSWER: Hast’s double of one club should not significantly influence your choice here. With a six-loser hand, you certainly have enough to try for game. The question is whether you should jump to four spades or make a game try of three diamonds. I could go either way on this hand.