ACES ON BRIDGE

I claim not to have controlled events but confess plainly that events have controlled me. — Abraham Lincoln

On the first day of the Gold Coast Congress in Brisbane, Australia, there is a two-session qualifying event. The top 28 pairs go through to an all-play-all final, as do the next 28 pairs, and so on. It is a very satisfying format, and it always seems to lead to a desperately close finish.

In the second session of the final, only two declarers were successful in five clubs here. One lucky declarer was helped by a top diamond lead, but Hugh McGann received the more neutral spade lead. He ruffed, drew trumps while eliminating spades in the process, then played the ace, king and a third heart.

He had now reduced to an ending where he had nothing but minor suits in his hand, while dummy still had two trumps, three diamonds and a master heart.

When East won the third heart, he could see that a ruff-sluff could not be right from his side’s perspective, so he chose to shift to a low diamond. When McGann played low from his hand and the queen appeared, he could claim the rest for a shared top.

East should probably have shifted to the diamond 10 — incidentally, a play that would beat the contract by force if he had a threecard holding including a top honor. Declarer must cover the 10 with the jack, and West can win deceptively with the king and return a low diamond.

This gives declarer a guess that he should probably not get wrong, of course. But any guess is better than none.

ANSWER: Although there are worse six-card majors, I would counsel you not to open a weak two on a suit like this without intermediates, headed by only the ace. This is because you might have three or four losers in the suit facing a singleton — and might also be able to take the ace and a ruff on defense. Your strong heart fragment is also a negative for pre-empting.

BOBBY WOLFF