With double length look to heights

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist who died in A.D. 65, said, “Life’s like a play: It’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

In bridge, length can matter. Hands with long suits usually win more tricks than those that are balanced. Look at the South hand. West opens one club, and two passes follow. (Yes, nowadays many Easts would bid one spade.) What should South do?

This is a difficult problem. In the second seat, South might overcall two no-trump, unusual, to show at least 5-5 in the two lowest-ranking unbid suits. But in the balancing fourth position, bids of one, two and three notrump are natural. South could settle for one heart, planning on bidding diamonds next, but that might give the opponents a chance to find a lucrative spade contract.

At the time, South jumped straight to four hearts, which I like. This gave West a problem. If he had bid five clubs, that contract could have gone down three, but probably South would have made the costly continuation of five diamonds. Alternatively, West might have doubled four hearts, but he cautiously passed.

West led the club ace and shifted to a trump: nine, queen, ace. When South led his spade, West won with his ace and inconsistently tried to cash the club king. Declarer ruffed, took the heart king and crossed to the heart 10. Then East erred badly by discarding a diamond instead of his useless last club (or a spade). Now South played a diamond to his 10 and lost only one spade, one diamond and one club.