ACES ON BRIDGE

In today’s auction, North produced a splinter raise to show the values for game with short diamonds, but not necessarily promising slam interest. When South cooperated with a four-heart cue-bid (perhaps an overbid if the call promised extras), North now felt he had enough to use Key-card Blackwood and drive to slam.

The final contract was far from hopeless after the lead of the diamond king; West followed up with a trump shift. Declarer won in hand with the spade 10, and might simply have settled on the heart finesse. However, following the sound general principle that if the heart finesse was working at the start of the hand, it would probably be working at the end, South delayed the heart play as long as he could. He ruffed a diamond high, led a spade to the ace, and ruffed a second diamond high. Next came a club to the king, then the spade queen. When West followed three times, declarer played the club ace and ruffed a club, taking his additional chance that the queen-jack might fall in three rounds. This did not happen, but by now, 11 of West’s cards were known. The best remaining chance was that West had begun with only three clubs, so that East now had sole guard of the suit. Accordingly, South played the last trump, discarding the heart eight from dummy and squeezing East in the process. This was an easy position to read: If the club 10 was not high, declarer would play the heart king and ace, and the heart six would win trick 13. ANSWER: The three-club call is forcing for one round but may be based on interest in game or slam. You don’t have to make the decision for partner as to which he has, but you can show a splinter in diamonds by jumping to four diamonds now. Your failure to bid more than two hearts on your second turn has already limited your high cards. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com

Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power. — Horace Mann