ACES ON BRIDGE

“O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.” — Psalm 39:13

In the finals of the 2017 NEC Trophy between Hackett and England/USA, we saw Hackett come back from a big deficit early on in the match to lead at the half. The first deal of the next set did nothing to change the spectators’ minds that momentum had shifted.

At one table, England/USA reached three no-trump after South had cue-bid then bid spades in response to his partner’s overcall in diamonds, since immediate spade bids would not have been forcing. Alas, this sequence was construed by North as bidding stoppers for no-trump rather than showing a suit. The club lead set the no-trump game immediately, as all declarer could do was run spades, then try for a miracle in diamonds.

Four spades, by contrast, looks easy enough; after the defenders led clubs, declarer won and set about arranging his heart ruff for the 10th trick. After West won her ace, she cashed a club and returned a trump. Declarer took the heart ruff, drew trumps, led a diamond to dummy and claimed when the second diamond produced the king from East.

But what if West had shifted to a diamond after winning the heart ace? Declarer must go up with the ace or suffer a ruff, and now he cannot both take a ruff and lead diamonds from dummy at the critical moment.

The only way to make the contract legitimately is to draw trumps ending in dummy, then lead diamonds from dummy — by no means obvious, since the chosen line was proof against most diamond breaks.