ACES ON BRIDGE

“Criticism is easy; art is difficult.” — Philippe Destouches

Both North-South pairs tried to reach three no-trump in as misleading or non-revealing a way as possible in this deal from the 2012 Asia Pacific Open teams. Pan-China managed it effectively in the featured room after South’s weak notrump opening, but West did extremely well to lead the spade nine. On an auction where his partner had passed initially and South might be (and actually was) concealing a five-card major, West earned his swing.

Declarer won the spade ace and finessed in hearts. West won and cleared spades, after which declarer had no chance. If declarer had ducked trick one in dummy, East should duck while encouraging the lead, to retain a link with his partner. If declarer plays on diamonds first, then — assuming

West takes the first diamond — South will later have to guess which finesse to take.

In the other room, the lead and defense against three no-trump looked easier when South bid his hearts first and North ended up in the hot seat. East led a fourth-highest spade, and when declarer won the spade queen and led a diamond, West ducked. Declarer won with dummy’s diamond queen and took a heart finesse. West took the first heart (otherwise, declarer can simply set up diamonds) and cleared the spades. However, declarer now cashed out the hearts and relied on the club finesse for his ninth trick. If West had grabbed the diamond ace immediately, declarer would have had a similar guess as to which finesse to take for his ninth trick.

ANSWER: I believe you need more shape to raise all the way to four spades with so little strength; it could be that neither side is making anything. I would either bid two spades or muddy the waters with a forcing no-trump response, planning to simulate a minimum raise to two spades.