ACES ON BRIDGE

In this deal from the Schapiro Spring Foursomes in the U.K., declarer had a road map to his contract.

East exploited the vulnerability with his four-heart bid, and South naturally showed his second suit. For all he knew, his side could be cold for slam. North corrected to five diamonds, and West tabled the heart jack, covered by the queen and king.

East read declarer for 11 minorsuit cards and duly shifted to his singleton. Declarer knew to rise with the ace and then play two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy.

Once the lie of the trumps was revealed, declarer could be fairly sure that East’s shape was 2=7=3=1. He ruffed a heart to cut the defensive link and then ran his trumps.

When declarer led his final diamond in the six-card ending, West had to reduce to four spades and only one club honor; otherwise, declarer might run the spades with the aid of the finesse. However, declarer simply pitched a spade from dummy and gave up a club to land his game, made on a squeeze without the count. A spade shift from East at trick two would have broken up the squeeze, but declarer still could have succeeded with some accurate card-reading: He draws trumps, cashes one spade, ruffs a heart and then rumbles the trumps, pitching a heart from dummy.

If West reduced to four clubs, dummy would come down to three clubs and one spade, whereupon a low club would endplay West. If he kept one spade and three clubs, dummy would reduce to two cards in each black suit. Again, a lowclub exit would settle West’s hash.