ACES ON BRIDGE

*A preempt in either minor Opening Lead: Diamond 10

In the following deal, Terry Weigkricht of Austria spotted an ingenious point in the defense (which, incidentally, eluded every other Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup defender).

Daniella von Arnim found herself at the helm in a delicate four-heart contract, but one that the defense had to work hard to beat. Weigkricht led the diamond 10, after having preempted in clubs, and when this held the trick, she could be sure that her partner had all the top diamonds but wanted to leave her on lead, which could only mean a club ruff.

That being the case, it seems tempting to cash the club ace and give partner a ruff, but Weigkricht did better than that: She underled her club ace. Doris Fischer ruffed and played a top diamond, forcing von Arnim to ruff high and draw the trumps. Declarer could set up one club trick but still had to lose a further minor-suit trick at the end. Note that if Weigkricht had cashed the club ace earlier, declarer would have had two club winners rather than one, and would have been able to make the hand.

The best spot — at least at double-dummy for North-South (other than defending three clubs doubled) is to reach three no-trump by North and to pitch clubs from dummy if East cashes four rounds of diamonds. If East leads a major suit at the first trick, you play a diamond yourself to cut the defense’s communications! You can set up a club trick if East does not run the diamonds.

ANSWER: It would be a mistake to preempt with this hand. You have a great deal of playing strength and are suitable for play in no-trump or either major. Open one diamond. It is perfectly fine to preempt with a side four-card major if the side suit is very weak, as here, but the rest of the hand makes that unacceptable. This hand is too playable in each of the majors.