ACES ON BRIDGE

In the knockout phase of the mixed teams at Sanya, China, last year, the easiest winners were Team Moss, who ended up winning by 100 IMPs — despite conceding a penalty of 1,100 on the very first deal, just to make it more interesting. This was the second deal.

Where Sylvia Moss and Michael Seamon were East-West, a quiet one heart opening by West saw their opponents collect plus-150 in three clubs. Moss’ teammate Kerri Sanborn found herself in four spades after her opponent bid much more aggressively. Curiously, while nobody defended four hearts doubled here, quite a few pairs were caught in three hearts when North guessed well to pass out South’s balancing takeout double.

So how should Sanborn have played four spades on repeated heart leads? It is best to ruff, cross to a top club in dummy and ruff another heart. East can do no better than pitch a diamond, so you unblock your trump honors from hand, cross to a second club in dummy and draw a third round of trumps, leaving East with the master spade and winning club. When you play a third club, East is on lead. If he cashes his master trump, you pitch diamonds from both hands and claim the balance.

East does much better to shift to a diamond, but whether he leads a high one or low one, your diamond 10 is enough to ensure you three diamond tricks as the cards lie.

You end up scoring two ruffs, three trumps and five tricks in the minors one way or another.

ANSWER: Since two diamonds by your partner would set up a force, three diamonds should specifically be short diamonds (singleton or void). Obviously, three notrump is no longer in the picture as a final contract; with three-card heart support, raise hearts now, and take it from there. You have a superb hand for slam if partner encourages you to cooperate. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at