ACES ON BRIDGE

“There is no wealth but life.” — John Ruskin

West suffered from an embarrassment of riches on this hand, but declarer failed to take advantage.

A normal auction saw West lead the spade four against the no-trump game. Declarer won the queen and immediately finessed the diamond jack, not everybody’s first move. When that held, he ran the heart jack to West’s queen, ducked the spade continuation and won the third round. Seeing only eight tricks in front of him, declarer thought he needed the diamond king to drop, which would also allow him to unblock the heart 10 if that suit was 5-1, so he led a diamond to the ace and had to concede defeat from there.

At the point South had reached, he should have cashed the hearts, tossing West’s hand into the wood chipper. Forced to keep the guarded diamond king, West would pitch a club and a spade. Armed with a full count of the spade suit (thanks to his second-round duck), declarer would simply play a club. West would be able to win the club ace and cash his spade, but dummy would reduce to the club king and diamond ace to give South nine tricks.

A shrewd declarer might lead a club at trick two, aiming to sneak a trick there before turning to the heart suit. West does best to take the ace and continue spades, but that is no good. Declarer wins the third spade, finesses the diamond jack and knocks out the club jack. He comes to nine tricks since East no longer has an entry to his partner’s hand.

ANSWER: Bid two no-trump. You must compete for the partscore, but a takeout double is unappealing with so few hearts. Two no-trump is the right call, showing long clubs and four diamonds for most pairs. It should not be natural — you cannot have a hand that would want to play notrump facing a silent partner if you overcall at your first turn.