ACES ON BRIDGE

At the 2019 Fall Nationals in San Francisco, Brian Senior sat South, playing old-fashioned Acol and a weak no-trump, hence the one-spade opener on a four-card suit. North made a mild simple raise, and East doubled, intending to pull a club bid to diamonds, thus showing the reds. (Most would play two notrump as the minors here.)

Senior redoubled to show strength, which prompted his partner to bid game, and there they were in a normal (if optimistic) contract, on a very unusual route.

The defense led a top diamond and shifted to the heart queen. Senior ducked and won the next heart, then ruffed a diamond and drew trump, leaving a complex choice of endings.

At this point, it looked as if East was 1=5=4=3, in which case the best line would be to play West for a doubleton club honor. So, declarer led a club to the king and planned to duck a club to West’s doubleton honor for the ruff-and-sluff. As the cards lay, East had an unexpected shape. When the club jack appeared, declarer knew to win and play a third club, endplaying West. In the three-card ending, West had only diamonds left, so declarer could pitch a heart loser from one hand and ruff in the other, with a trump and a club winner to come.

Note that if declarer exits with a heart in the six-card ending, East can safely lead a diamond. If this yields a ruff-and-sluff, declarer will have begun with four clubs in each hand and thus will not have a useful discard.

ANSWER: If you had the same hand with the diamonds and spades swapped over a one-diamond opening, this would make for an acceptable Michaels cue-bid. The difference on the actual hand is that two spades would force your side to the three-level. A simple two-heart overcall is preferable if you feel compelled to act. But passing, planning to back in later if appropriate, is only a hair on the cautious side.