ACES ON BRIDGE

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information.” — Samuel Johnson

Thanks to an opponent’s opening bid, declarer can place all the relevant missing high cards in today’s deal. It is now up to him to utilize that information. South has enough to balance with two spades on his fair six-card suit, and North overbids when he raises to game. Three spades is the value call, which also keeps three no-trump in the game, a contract that is cold if played by South.

On the diamond king lead, declarer can see four losers. To telescope them into three, he must set up dummy’s long heart for a club discard while keeping East off lead for fear of a club shift. Declarer could take an avoidance play in hearts, hoping to lose the lead to West. That would require West to hold something like queen-jack-low or jack-ten-nine, and even then, declarer may need some defensive cooperation. A better avoidance strategy is to throw a heart on one of West’s high diamonds. Declarer ducks trick one (as East plays the 10), wins the trump shift in hand and plays another diamond immediately. If West were to play an honor, declarer would duck in dummy. When West follows small instead, South calls for the ace and returns the suit, bravely throwing a heart when East produces the nine.

West has no choice but to win the trick. He persists with a trump, but declarer is in control. He wins in hand, cashes his high hearts ending in dummy, and ruffs a heart. He crosses back to dummy with the spade king, and the heart seven represents the game-going trick.

ANSWER: You must press on to game with your 10-card fit. Three notrump is unlikely to be the right spot when you have no side-suit aces, so bid four spades. As a general rule, consider bidding game on any but the most unsuitable of opening bids whenever you have a sixth trump or a singleton (since you cannot know until dummy comes down whether the hands will fit).