ACES ON BRIDGE

Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.

— Jack London We conclude our tournament week with a deal from the 2012 Nail Life Master Pairs, won by Zia Mahmood and Chip Martel.

North could have chosen a three-club call over West’s meek two-heart overcall, but when South rebid three spades over the double, North might have bid five hearts, Exclusion Blackwood, which is a jump beyond game to ask for key-cards ignoring the ace of the bid suit. That would have gotten his side to a grand slam. As it was, North could not tell whether he was missing a key-card, so he signed off in six spades.

How should South have played after the friendly lead of the heart ace?

Declarer had 12 top tricks and could have played to ruff a diamond in dummy for his 13th, which would no doubt be valuable at matchpoints scoring. However, that would require declarer to cash both the diamond ace-king and club aceking early. Even if they all stood up, he might have needed a favorable trump split at the end in order to be able to finish drawing trumps.

Declarer instead played for East to have the sole guard in each minor suit. Declarer ruffed the heart ace lead and drew trumps. He then ran his heart winners, reducing to the diamond ace-king and four clubs on table.

What was East to keep as his last six cards? Coming down to two diamonds would establish the small diamonds in declarer’s hand. Throwing a club saw declarer unblock the club ace and cross to the diamond king to ruff a club. That established the club nine as declarer’s 13th trick.

ANSWER: You should force to game with so much distribution and fine spade support. You could bid three hearts, which ought to be a splinter bid since two hearts would be natural and forcing; however, a jump to four hearts, showing a void, is more descriptive. Different partnerships play these calls differently, though, so make sure you and your partner agree here.