ACES ON BRIDGE

With three four-card suits, North begins by bidding the suit under the singleton. (With a singleton spade, either open one club and and rebid one no-trump, or open one diamond and rebid two clubs, depending on whether you want to emphasize your diamonds.) As expected, South responds in North’s singleton. North can now introduce his spades conveniently, over which South has a problem. He almost has enough to invite game because of his source of tricks, but with a known misfit, a call of one no-trump looks like the prudent way to go. When North invites game (also a restrained action), South has plenty in hand for his acceptance. After a top club lead, South must be careful not to duck, for fear of a spade shift, when the defenders might set that suit up. He must win, but in which hand? The answer is to win in dummy to protect South’s entries to the hearts. But the shortage of entries to the South hand means that the routine play in hearts will not succeed. South can set up hearts but won’t be able to reach them. Instead, South can solve his problem by overtaking the heart king with his ace. He next leads the heart jack to force out the queen. East refuses this trick, and declarer continues with his heart 10. West must eventually win the heart queen, and then he can do no better than play another top club. However, South is now in complete control. He takes four hearts, one spade and two tricks in each minor.