aces on bridge

“There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.” — Duke of Wellington

Four hearts was an excellent contract here, essentially cold unless trumps were 3-0 offside. That happens no more than one time in seven, but today was that day.

Declarer was doubly unlucky that West had a natural spade lead; on any other defense, declarer can arrange to strip off two rounds of spades plus all the minor-suit cards. Then he can endplay East with the master heart to give him a ruff-sluff.

However, when West led the spade jack, declarer won and played the heart king (since he could protect against West having queen-third of hearts). When trumps refused to cooperate, his chances were down to slim and none, and slim appeared to have left the building. But South refused to give up, and found an ingenious way to come home.

He ducked a diamond, won the spade shift and led a club to the ace. When East neglected to unblock an honor, South played a club back to his king and led a third club, discarding dummy’s last diamond. East won the trick, perforce, and exited with a diamond, but that merely postponed the evil hour. South ruffed the diamond in dummy, took the heart ace and exited in trumps to East, who was now well and truly endplayed.

For the record, had declarer held the club 10 instead of West, the defenders would have been helpless here, so maybe East should have worked out what to do. But it is a great deal easier to pass that judgment when one can see all four hands.

ANSWER:

The heart intermediates argue for a two-heart rebid here. Although one time in a hundred your partner will have a singleton heart and 3-1-4-5 shape, you are more likely to find that the 5-2 or 5-3 heart fit plays better than no-trump. Terence Reese argued that a 5-4-2-2 pattern is best played in a suit, and my experience supports this theory.