AceS on bridge

“No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.”

— Helmuth von Moltke

West ups the ante when East preempts to three hearts over North’s opening bid. Note that it is only the diamond ruFF that beats Four hearts.

OF course, North should reFuse to sell out at his second turn. His double is takeout, though South can pass with trump tricks or length. Today his Four-spade call gets him to a sensible spot — that is, until the trump break comes to light.

South ruFFs the second-round heart lead in dummy and comes to hand with a diamond to try the trump Finesse. The Finesse succeeds, but when he discovers West has all Five oF the missing trumps, South must take desperate measures to keep control oF the hand.

When he switches his attention to clubs, West ruFFs the second round. Now a spade would let declarer draw two more rounds oF trumps, then run the clubs, and West would simply score his long trump.

ThereFore, West accurately returns a heart, hoping to shorten South’s trumps and regain control oF the hand. South ruFFs in hand, discarding a club From dummy. He now cashes the high diamond, ruFFs dummy’s third diamond in hand and leads another club in a Fourcard ending, where dummy has two cards in each black suit, while declarer retains one trump and three clubs.

West must ruFF, and now iF he leads a trump, South will Finesse and claim the rest. So West plays a diamond, letting South ruFF in hand and pitch dummy’s last club. He now has a trump coup to score dummy’s two trumps.

ANSWER: Normally, a 5-4 hand should seriously consider reverting to the major, but here, the Fact that you are short in partner’s suit and your major is weak argues For passing. For the record, iF your majors were switched, you might rebid your suit, more conFident that your partner will not have a singleton in that suit.