ACES ON BRIDGE

Life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

— O. Henry

This deal was played in an early round of Britain’s prestigious Gold Cup.

After his natural two-heart call, West was unwilling to stake everything on a low-heart lead, so he chose the queen. East overtook with the king after a club was pitched from dummy. Declarer won with the heart ace and cashed the diamond king and queen before running the spade jack to East’s king. Back came a heart, and West cashed out for one down.

There was no hurry to take the spade finesse. East could hold no more than a doubleton in hearts, given the bidding and the play to trick one, so it could cost nothing to play a club at trick two. If East won, the spade finesse would be marked. Here, West would go in with the king on the first club and would have to shift to a spade to give declarer a problem.

Now declarer would have a decision to make: Finesse in case the king is onside, or go up with the ace to allow for the actual position, with West holding both top clubs and a singleton in spades. It would be far from clear, but if West had the spade king and both the club ace and king, it would be fine to take the spade ace and lead another club anyway, there being no entry to the East hand for a heart return. The spade finesse would be necessary only if West had one club honor and the spade king. However, all but the finest of West players would have played low on the first club then, hoping for East to win and return a heart.

Perhaps that argument should have persuaded declarer.

ANSWER: You might want to double to bring spades into the picture, but I would start with two diamonds, intending to bid two spades at my next turn over two hearts. Doubling will make it hard to find a 6-3 diamond fit, particularly if the opponents compete at once to an uncomfortably high level.