ACES ON BRIDGE

As declarer, it is a sound philosophy, when in a good contract, to consider which distributions might lead to problems, then to plan how to deal with them. With a real bust and three or four trumps, North would have issued a second negative of three clubs, rather than raise directly. So South could jump to six spades — knowing that even if there was no heart control in dummy, he could surely ruff his clubs if necessary. When West led a top diamond, declarer saw that if either clubs or trumps broke, he would make at least 12 tricks. The real issue was how to cope with 4-1 clubs and 3-1 trumps. He might have no winning line if West had the critical trump length and short clubs; but what if East held the critical combination in the black-suits? Declarer thoughtfully ruffed the diamond ace high, then cashed the club ace. When everyone followed, South now wanted to ensure that if East held a singleton club, he could be prevented from ruffing away a winner. Accordingly, South next overtook his spade seven with dummy’s eight and led a club. Appreciating the

LEAD WITH THE ACES position, East discarded — best, since, had he ruffed in, South’s life would have been easy. South won the club king, then re-entered dummy by overtaking the trump nine with the 10. Dummy’s third club was played, and again East declined to ruff, so South’s queen scored. The losing club was ruffed in dummy. South re-entered his hand with a diamond ruff and drew East’s last trump for 12 tricks.

ANSWER: Unlike the auction in today’s main deal, you cannot raise partner’s suit with only two, and your diamonds are not quite good enough to bid. I’d make a second negative of three clubs and hope to get my values across later. You can always raise or give preference to hearts on your next turn.