BRIDGE with Bob Jones

Competitive decisions are probably the most difficult decisions that we have to make as bridge players. Defend right here or bid one more? The decision is sometimes little more than a guess and every great player has gotten it wrong more than once.

What should East do over five clubs? Taking 11 tricks in spades is far from a sure thing. Holding two aces and a king, and with a partner who overcalled, East decided to take the sure plus score and he doubled. Alas for him, five clubs was unbeatable on this lie of the cards. The defenders couldn’t get a heart, a diamond, and a club, so declarer was able to draw trumps and give the defense a diamond trick. The long diamond in dummy provided a discard for declarer’s losing heart. It would not help West to find a heart lead at trick one. South would just duck that to East’s king and the 3-3 heart split would allow South to discard three diamonds on the long hearts.

East can’t be faulted for his final decision. His partner didn’t put him in a position to make a good decision. West’s hand qualifies for a simple overcall, but does that really describe his hand? At this vulnerability, we think three spades would have been a much better bid. East would be warned that West might not be able to contribute to the defense and that the ace of spades wouldn’t take a defensive trick. He would have made a better decision.