ACES ON BRIDGE

“I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely, crowned With lilies and laurel they go; but I am not resigned.”

— Edna St. Vincent Millay

Continuing with our avoidance theme, declarer must employ some forward thinking here.

To direct the lead, East doubles North’s Stayman bid. South volunteers two hearts, natural with a club stopper. (Without a club stopper, South would pass, and North could then redouble to repeat Stayman.) West obediently leads the club two against the heart game. How would you play this contract?

This looks easy. You can win the club lead and knock out the heart ace, eventually throwing a diamond on the fourth spade and ruffing a club in dummy. However, that would not be a good idea here. After winning the heart ace, West can push through the diamond jack in order to retain the lead if you duck. Now it would be best to win the diamond ace, but, with no quick entry back to dummy to score the fourth spade after drawing trumps, you would have to risk unblocking the spade honors after only two trumps, conceding a ruff to East. If you give up a club, West will win and beat you by reverting to diamonds.

A far better approach is to duck the first trick instead, losing the lead to East, the safe hand. When on lead, that player cannot profitably shift to a diamond. You win the next club and drive out the heart ace. At this point, a diamond switch can no longer harm you. You can finesse the queen if you like but can then win the next diamond and draw the remaining trumps. Now you unblock the spades and ruff a club to dummy to score the spade jack.

ANSWER: Bid four no-trump. Your strong five-card suit justifies an invitation to slam. It would be nice to have a way to show your club suit. (Yes, a 5-3 or even 5-2 fit might play better than no-trump.) With a major, you could transfer and then follow up with a quantitative no-trump call, but that isn’t available here. Still, the hand is worth a slam try, and this is the simplest way to make one.