aces on bridge

“One never knows whether people have principles on principle or whether for their own personal satisfaction.”

Karel Capek

The easiest way to score tricks is with honor cards and long suits. But sometimes the spot-cards can be critical, as is the case today.

When North opened the bidding with one diamond, South responded one no-trump. North overbid slightly, perhaps, when he jumped to game, but if he had invited game, South would have accepted happily enough.

West led the heart two, and declarer rightly inserted the jack, in case West had underled the king and queen. He ducked the king and the heart continuation, but won the third heart, discarding a club from dummy. South could count on eight tricks, with the diamond suit his only chance for a ninth.

He opted for the simple route of four rounds of clubs followed by the three top diamonds, but when the diamonds failed to break, he had to concede defeat.

The same contract was reached at another table. Here, South won the third round of hearts and also discarded a club from dummy. But this declarer saw the additional chance from his diamond intermediates. So, at trick four, he played the diamond eight to the ace and followed with the diamond king, observing East’s jack with interest, and being careful to unblock his own diamond nine.

Next came four rounds of clubs, and when West showed out on the third, the combination of the fourth-highest lead, the count in clubs and the fall of the diamond jack persuaded declarer to finesse dummy’s diamond seven to land his game.

ANSWER: It feels like you have too much to pass. While the opponents might have come to rest in a 4-3 fit, it sounds a little more likely that they have located an eight-card fit, so you have just enough to act, with a reasonable expectation of finding a fit of your own. I would bid one spade rather than one no-trump, since you might find you can take heart ruffs in dummy.