ACES ON BRIDGE

Today’s deal from a recent tournament appeared under the headline of the old proverb: “For the want of a nail, the horseshoe was lost.”

As the writer indicated, it is probably lucky for all of us how rarely our small inaccuracies are as heavily punished as was the case today. If we all got our just deserts, life at the bridge table would be no fun at all.

You could argue that East-West did not deserve a good result, given East’s overcall in spades on that miserable five-carder, though it did get his partner off to the best lead against no-trump. (Of course, West led the spade two, which had the effect of blocking the suit.) North-South had certainly done well to get to the best game; now all South had to do was make the maximum.

Declarer won the first spade and had to decide what to do next.

What would you have done? South missed the technically best play (as might we all), of cashing the diamond ace at trick two. Instead she tried to run the clubs and got the bad news when West pitched a low spade and two hearts.

Now declarer finessed the diamond jack and ran into about the only lie of that suit that could hold her to eight tricks. If she had cashed one top diamond at trick two, she would have taken four tricks in the suit instead of two, which would have represented about half a top difference in the results on this deal.

BID WITH THE ACES

ANSWER: I’m prepared to jump to four hearts, gambling on finding a top card in a black suit opposite, since West is very likely to be short in diamonds and to lead that suit. If he does, I’d be optimistic about having nine top tricks in the red suits and finding another trick somewhere else.

It doesn’t much signify whom one marries, for one is sure to find next morning that it was someone else. — Samuel Rogers