ACES ON BRIDGE

Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve, And hope without an object cannot live. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Choice-of-game decisions are always tough; when it is a choice between the two almost-equivalent major-suit strains, you need luck to find the right spot every time. On this hand from the 2019 European Championships, some pairs played the hopeless four spades, while others found their way to four hearts after South’s four-club cue-bid asked for four-card major suits to be bid up the line.

North’s four-diamond bid was an intelligent call (assuming this was a temporizing call rather than natural!) because South could have had five spades and four hearts, in which case a spade contract would be markedly superior.

Declarer Daniel Winter finessed the queen on the club lead and guessed well to play a heart to the 10. Declarer proceeded to cash the heart ace, eliminate clubs, then play a spade to the jack, West showing out. Then declarer put East on lead with a trump.

A spade exit from East would have let declarer win dummy’s queen and put East back in with the fourth spade, so East exited with a diamond. Making full use of his extra chance, declarer contributed the diamond five, the jack forcing dummy’s king. West took the next diamond and played another round of diamonds. Then declarer was able to duck a spade to East, endplaying him for a second time to lead a spade and concede the rest.

ANSWER: It’s now or never: You must bid three spades. You have some defense against four hearts and a bunch of losers in the minor suits, so bidding four spades would be far too aggressive. However, you must compete when your side is likely to have nine spades in total. Partner could easily have enough values to make game or part-score your way.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com