ACES ON BRIDGE

“I would rather be right than president.”

— Henry Clay

An aggressive pre-empt put Northsouth to a high-level decision on this hand, forcing declarer into some fine card-reading.

Anything goes in third seat, and with 6-4 shape and concentrated values, East tried three spades. This allowed West to compete to four spades over South’s four hearts. When South came again with a value-showing double, North removed to five hearts, hoping his clubs would be useful. Right he was.

West chose the spade king lead in an effort to get a count on the suit. East might have overtaken to put a diamond through, looking at the clubs on dummy, but he thought West might have a doubleton spade, so he let the spade king hold.

Declarer ruffed the second spade, cashed two trumps ending in dummy, then ruffed a spade to help count the hand. When spades were known to be 6-3, declarer thought back to East’s vulnerable pre-empt. Surely three spades would be too much with an uninspiring suit and 6=3=2=2 distribution. West surely would have acted at his first turn if holding seven diamonds, so East seemed likely to be short in clubs.

Accordingly, declarer cashed the club ace and ran the eight on the next round, picking the suit up to romp home. That was a courageous play, for many a declarer would have just played clubs from the top, picking up a singleton jack or 10 on their right and falling back on the diamond finesse should the clubs not come in.

Give South credit for backing his judgment.

ANSWER: Bid three no-trump. Two no-trump would show 18-19, so your call here does not indicate a balanced hand. Instead, it shows a hand with long, strong hearts that is too good to rebid a non-forcing three hearts. A singleton in partner’s suit is not unexpected for this action. Partner, you hope, will have a good idea whether to convert to hearts or not.