ACES ON BRIDGE

Today’s deal helped decide the World Youth Teams championships 12 years ago. In the final set, the Israelis were making a charge to catch the U.S. team, and in one room had played for a swing by stopping in four spades here.

But in our featured room, declarer, Joel Wooldridge, thought his partner had the ace-king of hearts, while John Hurd believed the five-heart bid showed the king, not the queen.

After the sneaky lead of the diamond 10, the best line seemed to be to unblock the heart ace, then use minor-suit entries to take two heart ruffs. When the heart king fell, declarer could switch plans and draw trumps. If the heart king did not fall in three rounds, South would continue the crossruff, hoping all the minor-suit honors would stand up.

Wooldridge actually won the diamond lead, unblocked the club king, crossed to the heart ace, then played the ace and another club. When he cashed the diamond queen and saw West produce the jack, he ruffed another heart and led the fourth club.

Once East discarded on this trick, Wooldridge ruffed low, ruffed a heart and then ruffed a diamond with the spade nine. When West could not overruff, declarer had a high crossruff for the contract. The U.S. team went on to win the match by a deceptively comfortable margin.

But notice that in the six-card ending, if East had ruffed the fourth club with the spade 10, declarer would be stuck. He could overruff, but he would never get to score the spade six, since West could overruff him in both minors.

ANSWER: Maybe you regret not opening one no-trump now (not an absurd action by any means), but it is too late to go back. The hand is not really strong enough for a reverse, so unless you are prepared to treat your three-card spade suit as worth introducing, you had better bid one no-trump and live with the underbid.