ACES ON BRIDGE

Twixt the optimist and pessimist The difference is droll: The optimist sees the doughnut,The pessimist the hole. — McLandburgh Wilson

Today’s deal cropped up in a teams game, where one declarer came back in triumph with what he was sure was a good result and was somewhat deflated at the comparison of scores.

Our first declarer had played four hearts on the lead of the diamond nine. He took East’s jack in his hand and led a heart to the jack and ace. East could have defeated the game by returning a diamond, but instead he exited passively with a spade. Declarer could regain the lead to draw trumps, eventually losing one trick in spades and diamonds, to come back with 10 tricks.

When it came to the score comparison, his teammates read out minus 420. Our hero was somewhat crestfallen and made his next mistake when he asked his teammates what had gone wrong.

“What do you mean?” came the answer in a surprised tone of voice.

“I also led the diamond nine, which went to the jack and ace. Our declarer suspected the lead to be a singleton, so he made the essential play of eliminating clubs before touching trumps.

“Then declarer played on hearts, and my partner won and accurately gave me a ruff. But what could I do now? I was out of red cards, so I had to lead the spade ace and another spade. Declarer could now discard dummy’s losing diamond on the spade king. If I had played a club, giving a ruff-and-discard, the losing diamond would again have disappeared. I assume you played it the same way?”

“Almost exactly,” came the response.

ANSWER: Your partner has shown game-forcing values with a singleton club. Your hand could hardly fit better, despite having only 8 HCP. Use Blackwood, and be prepared to consider a grand slam if your partner comes through with the appropriate number of keycards. After all, partner must have at least two key-cards, so where are your losers?