aces on bridge

“Stealing, of course, is a crime . ... But if you were very, very hungry, and you had no way of obtaining money, it would be excusable to grab (a) painting, take it to your house, and eat it.”

— Lemony Snicket

When this deal came up at the 2001 Cavendish teams event in Las Vegas, the daily bulletin remarked that Bruce Ferguson has made a career of trying to fool all of the people all of the time. The more outrageous things he does, the more people suspect him, so he has to keep trying ever more unusual tricks. But he still keeps reeling in the victims!

Consider this affair from the last match of the teams, where he caught another world champion and added yet one more notch to his belt.

If you play three no-trump as South, as did the vast majority of the field, you find the cards lying exceptionally well. With the diamond ace doubleton and spades and hearts apparently favorably located, it looks very hard to go down.

As West, Ferguson started the war of attrition by leading a deceptive heart four, playing fourthhighest leads. When you have a hand this strong, that can be a good move. When South ducked the first heart, Ferguson had won the first battle. Back came a second heart; South won, crossed to a top diamond and passed the club queen. Ferguson won and put the spade four on the table!

Declarer eyed this suspiciously and decided to duck. We can all see that this may not be technically supportable, but Ferguson had given him the chance to go wrong, and he took it.

Now, when the club finesse lost, West had five winners. Ferguson left the table chortling, with yet another victim added to what is by now a rather long list.

ANSWER: Your partner has made a game try, and your hand is neither a clear acceptance nor rejection. A lot depends on whether your partner is short in hearts or in diamonds. Bid three diamonds to show this sort of diamond holding, and let your partner decide whether he wants to play game — and if so, which one.