ACES ON BRIDGE

From a past ACBL junior camp in Frostburg, Maryland, Stefan Back reported this deal, where his own overbid had put Gerben Dirksen in a perilous spot. North should have let two spades go, but the appeal of the magical 5-4-3-1 shape persuaded him to invite game in the hope of uncovering a 5-3 fit. His hand was much less suitable for play in three no-trump. Maybe West should have opted for a safe spade intermediate on lead to an invitational auction, but at the table the choice was an exuberant club. Declarer won the club 10 in hand and led a heart to the king, followed by a club to his jack. When West won with his king and exited with another club, Dirksen won two rounds of the suit, ending in dummy, seeing East throw three diamonds on the clubs. Now declarer led a heart to the seven! He inferred that East’s failure to pitch a heart suggested four, meaning West’s ace had to be bare. Perhaps you could also argue that East had 12 vacant spaces to his partner’s nine, which suggested that East held more hearts than his partner. An alert East would scarcely pitch a heart from three cards while holding so many useless diamonds. When

West shifted to the diamond king, Dirksen let him hold the trick. Next, West’s spade jack went to the queen, king, and ace. Now came two winning hearts, putting West’s hand through the mincer.

On the last heart, West came down to the bare spade nine and the doubleton diamond queen. Dirksen threw West in with a spade to lead diamonds into the tenace. Contract made!