ACES ON BRIDGE

Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul When hot for certainties in this our life!

— George Meredith

In today’s example of the week’s theme of Stayman continuations, North made a quantitative invitation before finding the spade fit. Since South had heard his partner imply spade length from the use of Stayman, he could see that the ruffs available in a suit contract suggested spades would be the best slam. On this sequence, once a fit has been implied, South’s hand is clearly improved; it is certainly worth driving to slam now.

After receiving the heart jack lead, declarer saw he was cold on a 3-2 trump split. If the trumps were 4-1, he would need the club finesse to work and something favorable to come from the red suits. While the club finesse would be necessary, however, the diamond finesse might be avoided.

Declarer won the heart queen, conserving entries to dummy, and cashed the spade ace before playing a spade to the king. Having uncovered the bad break, declarer finessed the club jack, cashed the club ace, and went to the heart ace to take the ruffing club finesse. East covered, and declarer ruffed. He then went back over to the spade queen and cashed the club 10.

Down to a trump, a heart and the diamond tenace in dummy, declarer now called for dummy’s heart six. It would do East no good to ruff, so he threw a diamond, but then all that remained was for declarer to score the heart king and ruff his heart in dummy. East had to overruff but found himself endplayed to yield the slam-going trick in diamonds.

BID WITH THE ACES

ANSWER: It is close, but I would double. Three no-trump could easily be best, since you have control of the hearts, but with no long suit to set up, you are unlikely to make it without a great deal of help in the dummy. Double in an attempt to find a spade fit. This may turn out to be less expensive if West has the values to penalize you.