That elusive scarlet queen

There are times (the Senior Life Master explained to his Saturday morning class) when you have a crucial guess to make in a suit. Perhaps you are faced with a two-way finesse. It is best to delay the decision for as long as possible. Find out as much as you can about the other suits before committing yourself in the critical suit. This deal is a relatively simple example of the genre.

The SLM put the NorthSouth cards on the board, paused for a minute or so, then continued:

South’s bidding was aggressive. Opposite a single raise, he was thin for his jump to game. But the vulnerable game bonus is a powerful lure. Also, the opponents’ silence suggested favorable suit breaks.

West led the spade ace, East signaling with the queen to show the queenjack. West continued with two more rounds of the suit.

South ruffed, drew trumps and paused to assess the prospects. Clearly, he had to find the diamond queen to make his game. But who held the key queen? Not having the powers of Mr. P. Hal Sims, an expert in the early days of contract bridge who reputedly never misguessed a two-way finesse, South led the club king.

When West won with the ace, the final piece of the jigsaw had fallen into place. West had shown up with 11 points: the spade ace-king and the club ace. How could he have the diamond queen as well, when he couldn’t open the bidding?

South won the club return in the dummy, cashed the diamond ace, finessed in diamonds through East and claimed his contract.