aces on bridge

“Greed is all right, by the way. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.”

— Ivan Boesky

One of the most common questions I receive from rubber bridge players who want to learn duplicate is how the approach differs from one game to the other. Today’s deal is a fine example of that difference.

Against three no-trump at both tables, the spade two was led. The first declarer played low from dummy (yes, playing the jack would have had some deceptive effect, but declarer wanted to be in hand), and East won with the king and thoughtfully switched to the heart queen. South ducked two rounds of hearts, but won the third to continue with the diamond queen. East was able to win and cash out for down two.

The second declarer saw the potential problem and rose with dummy’s ace at trick one. She had noticed that her contract would be safe unless diamonds were extremely unfriendly. She came to hand with a top club and led the diamond nine, which held. West showed out on the continuation of the diamond queen, but declarer let it ride, and East had to take the king now or lose it forever. Nine tricks made.

This hand would have been far more difficult to play in a match-pointed duplicate pairs tournament. Declarer now has a very awkward guess at trick one. If West has led a low spade away from the king, then by playing low from dummy and winning with the queen, declarer will end with at least 11 and maybe more. Unless both the spade and diamond finesse lose, the contract will be safe.

ANSWER: Whether or not you think this hand is too good for a two-diamond opener (I could go either way), over your partner’s forcing two-heart call you should bid two spades now. This is natural in principle, suggesting either a four-card suit or a holding like this one.