ACES ON BRIDGE

Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever. In today’s deal, South was unwilling either to pre-empt or to open at the one-level, so he compromised by passing. This was a reasonable decision since his suit was weak and he had side-suit defense. North sensibly elected not to open one no-trump because of his honor location and good five-card major. South was a passed hand, so his call of two diamonds was not any form of spade raise but was natural and non-forcing, suggesting six and a maximum pass. North’s raise to three diamonds implied some extras, or he would have passed. That encouraged his partner to make one more call. South’s three hearts investigated for the best game, and with no club stop, North temporized with three spades, implying a little extra. (With a minimum hand for the auction, he would have bid four diamonds now.) He was hoping for South to find a raise with a doubleton spade honor, but South had just enough to jump to five diamonds. This bidding called for a club lead, of course; West chose the ace and continued with a club to his partner’s king. East shifted passively to a top heart, and declarer now faced a slow heart loser. Fortunately, the solution to his problem was easy enough to spot: He won the heart king and worked on spades at every opportunity, playing the ace, king and a third spade, ruffing high. Then a trump to dummy for another spade ruff high allowed declarer to draw trumps, ending in dummy, and use the last spade for a diamond discard. ANSWER: Bid two diamonds. Partner’s double is takeout of hearts. He probably has a doubleton spade and length in both minors. Thus, you dare not defend a no-trump, with nothing to prevent the hearts from running. The best bid is your longer minor.Your partner will be able to raise spades later if he has any sort of fit.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him a

BOBBY WOLFF