ACES ON BRIDGE
They [the National Union League] have concluded that it is not best to swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying to swap.
— Abraham Lincoln Declarer could not succeed by conventional means in today’s hand. He had to apply a technique known as “trading ruffs.”
It is often better to start bidding strong two-suiters at the one-level, to provide more space to describe your shape. However, with a major and a minor, opener can start with two clubs. He can then introduce the major, followed by the second suit at the three-level; so, his actual choice was fine. North’s calls of two spades and four clubs suggested at least a modest hand with club support and short hearts. South therefore hoped he could ruff his hearts good and was happy to be in slam as long as
North had the club king, which was ascertained by Key-card Blackwood.
Declarer won t he diamond lead in hand and continued by cashing the club ace-king, discovering the three-one break. As he had to develop his long heart, declarer began work on that suit. He cashed the heart tops and then ruffed a heart in dummy with the club jack. East’s discard of a diamond meant that it was useless to ruff a second heart in dummy. Instead, when declarer returned to hand and played another heart, he threw dummy’s diamond 10 on it, allowing West to win the trick as East parted with a second diamond.
Declarer ruffed the spade continuation in hand, then ruffed a diamond with dummy’s small trump. All that remained was to ruff a spade back to hand, draw East’s remaining trump and cash the established heart. ?
ANSWER: Raise to three diamonds right away. With such a good fit and a weak hand, there is little purpose in bidding your poor hearts. Get in the opponents’ way. Had the opponents not doubled, a one-heart response would be fine (though raising diamonds might also be perfectly reasonable).
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