ACES ON BRIDGE

In today’s deal from an online teams encounter, both NorthSouth pairs reached the only game with a chance, but only one declarer took full advantage of his assets and made his game.

Each pair accurately played their eight-card fit instead of their nine-card fit. Spades would have stood no chance today, but in hearts, declarer could potentially park three of North’s diamonds on the long spades if the defense failed to cash out correctly.

Both Wests started with two top clubs, not very dynamic but logical enough, given their sure reentry in spades. The declarers drew all the trumps, ending in hand, and then the paths diverged. One led out the spade jack, doing his best to keep West off lead. West had an easy time covering that, declarer winning and ducking the next round when East showed out. When West shifted to a diamond, East showed declarer the acequeen, and they moved on to the next board — one down. The other South, a wily performer, saw an extra chance. He led the spade five at trick six. This was probably best from a technical perspective since West could have had a void. More to the point, it gave West a chance to demonstrate whether he was awake or asleep at the table.

It turned out West had had one chipolata too many for lunch. He somnolently followed low on the first spade, and South triumphantly called for dummy’s three. When East put the two on the green baize, South’s cup ran over.

“May he give you what your heart desires and fulfill your whole purpose.”

— Psalm 20:4

ANSWER: You could have a game, but it needs perfect cards from partner, specifically both major-suit aces. Even then, you might have a trump loser. You could go quietly and pass, being prepared to compete to three spades. An alternative is to raise preemptively to three spades directly, to keep the opponents silent. With a game try, you would bid a new suit.