ACES ON BRIDGE

“Sometimes these cogitations still amaze The troubled midnight and the noon’s repose.” — T.S. Eliot

As South, you declare three no-trump, and West leads the spade four to East’s 10. There are several options for developing tricks, including a 3-3 break in a minor or a successful finesse in either red suit. Playing up to the heart king should be the last resort, though. Similarly, there is no need to test the clubs right away. If they are splitting now, I am confident that they will still be doing so later on.

Start on the diamonds: Cross to dummy in clubs to finesse the diamond jack at once. This way, you can negotiate the singleton or doubleton 10 or nine on your right while only losing to a bare queen on your left.

When the diamond jack holds, you can cash the king, but before playing a third round of diamonds, it is time to test clubs.

When West pitches a heart on the third club, you should play a spade, again before cashing the diamond ace. Cover East’s eight with the nine to endplay West, who must return a major. If he had a diamond to play, the suit would be breaking evenly. You could win, cash the last diamond and exit safely in clubs, reducing to two hearts and the spade king facing jack-third in hearts. You will come to a ninth trick no matter how the cards lie.

It was best to retain the diamond ace in dummy as a reentry in case West had queen-jack-eight-fifth in spades. You could now fall back on a diamond to the ace and a heart from dummy, still succeeding when either the diamonds broke or the heart ace was onside.

ANSWER: You could overcall two clubs to show the majors, but you would obviously prefer to have more in the way of values or shape for that action. As it is, you probably need better spots to act here. By contrast, I would balance here at any position or vulnerability. As a passed hand, I might act in second seat if non-vulnerable. I know my partner will be less inclined to hang me.