ACES ON BRIDGE

Knowing his partner had a bust, West eschewed a club lead against four spades in favor of what he hoped would be a passive trump. South won in hand, cashed the spade 10 (West throwing the diamond queen) and led a heart toward dummy.

West could now place all the missing minor-suit honors with South, and the impending danger was clear. If he played small on the heart, he would eventually be thrown in, whether it be on the next heart (should South be 5=2=2=4) or on the third round of clubs (if South had temporized with three clubs on a 5=3=2=3 shape).

So West inserted the heart queen, hoping to create an entry to his partner’s hand with the jack. Declarer won dummy’s king and returned the suit, but East alertly hopped up with the jack to shift to the diamond two. Unwilling to present East with another entry, South played small. After winning cheaply, West cashed the diamond ace and played a third diamond, giving South a useless ruff-and-discard. West had seen his partner show an even number of hearts, so there was little danger in letting declarer pitch a club from either hand. When the club aceking failed to drop the queen, declarer conceded defeat.

If West had played small on the first heart and been thrown in with the second heart, declarer could have afforded to guess incorrectly on a low club shift. Then, eventually, he could have put West back in with the club queen to open up the diamonds or give him a helpful ruff-and-sluff.

Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn. — Delmore Schwartz