ACES ON BRIDGE

I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

— William Ernest Henley

Sometimes, destiny seems to produce a deal straight from the textbooks, albeit a very advanced manual in this case. In the North American Swiss Teams, this deal was played around the room and had the smell of a contrived hand about it, with the opponents’ cards cooperating completely.

After a light weak-two opening by West, Steve Levy of Las Vegas was virtually stampeded into bidding four spades on the South cards — not too unwillingly, until he saw the virtually useless dummy come down. Even though the North hand was one card away from a genuine Yarborough, Levy did his best to exploit such meager assets.

The defense led two rounds of hearts.

Levy ruffed and played the spade jack out of his hand! That put East in a dilemma. If he ducked, it would allow declarer to play diamonds from his hand (retaining the diamond two) to establish the suit. If he took his queen, then whether he played another heart (which would be ruffed in dummy) or a plain suit, declarer would have just enough spades left to draw trumps and cross to dummy with his diamond two, to eventually play a club toward his king.

Instead, East took his spade queen and exited in trumps. Levy won in dummy, finessed in diamonds and drew trumps. Dummy’s diamond eight provided an entry to play up to the club king.

As North proudly pointed out, his hand had been good for two tricks, “but not quite enough to redouble, partner!”

ANSWER: Bid two hearts. This type of hand, weak with a fair six-card suit, is perfect to act with. As you have shown, you cannot double to show values, which would start at around a 9-count, so this is non-forcing. You might prefer another high card or some more shape, but you cannot have everything.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com

BOBBY WOLFF