ACES ON BRIDGE

Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think. — John Stuart Mill

On this deal from the second qualifying session of the Mitchell Open Board-a-Match Teams from the last national championships in Seattle, imagine that you have reached three no-trump, after both you and your vulnerable opponents have done a lot of bidding.

The heart queen held the trick on opening lead. A second heart to the ace was followed by a third heart, on which South had to discard from dummy. Name your poison!

At the table, declarer erred in practice — and maybe in theory as well — by pitching a spade. He then crossed to the club king to play a diamond to the ace in an attempt to keep West off lead while setting up diamonds. (The first diamond play had to come from dummy; if East had a doubleton queen or a holding such as J-9, he could defeat the game by unblocking his honor if declarer led low to the diamond king.)

The 4-1 break — disappointing, but hardly surprising — brought South up short. The best he could do was finesse in spades against East and hope for the clubs to break. That failed, but if declarer had pitched a club from dummy at trick three, then when the diamond break came to light, he could have crossed to the club ace and finessed in spades, then cashed the spade king.

At this point, he could have endplayed East by leading the king and a second club to force a spade play into dummy’s A-10 at the end for the ninth trick. ANSWER: Should you raise to two spades here? Had your RHO passed, you would surely have left your partner in one spade, but in competition, a simple raise here does not guarantee great extras. It suggests either real shape suitability or decent extras with four spades. This hand just about qualifies by virtue of the nice controls. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com