ACES ON BRIDGE
It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.
— Oliver Goldsmith
Many expert pairs play Drury, where a passed-hand two-club response to a major-suit opening shows 9-11 points with three- or four-card support. Thus, North’s passed-hand jump raise showed 6-8 points and four or more trumps.
Against four spades, West made the off-beat lead of a trump, hoping to cut down on ruffs. That went to the queen and ace, and declarer led a diamond to open his communications. He needed to take heart ruffs in dummy, but he also had to set up a way back to hand.
West took the diamond with the king and played a trump, declarer winning cheaply. Then came the heart ace, a low heart ruffed, a diamond ruff and another low heart ruffed, establishing the suit on the 4-3 break. Declarer returned to hand with a diamond ruff to draw the final trump and enjoy his long hearts.
West could have given declarer a harder time by switching to clubs at trick three. East would take the queen and ace before playing a third round, threatening to promote West’s spade 10. Declarer would surely ruff high, placing the spade 10 on his left based on the play to trick one. That would, in theory, leave declarer a trump short to establish the 13th heart.
However, what could West discard on the third club? A heart would allow declarer to set up that suit, while a diamond pitch would see the ace ruff down, leaving declarer with two minor-suit tricks on table. Since an underruff would be suicidal, declarer would be able to come home if he read the position.
ANSWER: Bid four clubs to show both majors. This is a slight stretch on values, but you could make game facing queen-fourth in a major and nothing else. It would not be wise simply to guess which major to bid, lest you miss a fit in the other. Identifying the correct strain is more important than pussyfooting about the correct level and trying to play it safe.