ACES ON BRIDGE

How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything that happens in life! — Marcus Aurelius

In action on today’s hand is Zia Mahmood, playing in the 1999 U.S. Spingold Teams. After finding an unhelpful trump division, he took full advantage of the inferences available from the bidding to bring home his five-level contract.

After Mahmood, South, opened one heart, West doubled for takeout and North redoubled. East bid two spades, and Mahmood jumped to four hearts. West now bid four spades (a contract that makes), but Mahmood bid on, making a move toward slam; however, the partnership came to rest in five hearts.

The defenders began by cashing two spade tricks, then switched to a diamond. South took his ace and played the heart ace, discovering that East held the balance of the trumps. Zia’s next move was to finesse the club 10. When it held, he cashed the ace, discarding a diamond, then played the king. East ruffed, and declarer overruffed, then drew the outstanding trump and returned to dummy on the third round of trumps to pitch his last diamond on the club queen.

Why the spectacular finesse of the club 10? Zia had noticed from the bidding that West was likely to have at least four cards in each minor, especially after he had shown out in hearts. If he had simply played clubs from the top and East had ruffed the third (as he would have), declarer would have needed two further entries to dummy: one to set up a club winner and a second to cash it for the last diamond discard. And those entries would not have been there.

ANSWER: Your partner’s actions show a forcing hand with hearts. A new suit in competition is best played as non-forcing. So here, three hearts is assumed to be natural, and your three-card support makes the raise easy. If partner had bid three spades instead of three hearts, your call would have been harder, but I think I would still raise. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at