ACES ON BRIDGE

North was too weak to act on the first round here, but when his partner doubled for takeout at his second turn, he read his partner as having short hearts and real clubs, so he took his chances on offense. That was well-judged; four hearts could have made, and five clubs had plenty of play.

When West led the heart jack, declarer saw that he needed only the heart finesse or an eventual endplay. He tried the heart queen and was disappointed when it was covered. He ruffed high, then cashed the club ace, crossed to the trump nine, threw a spade on the heart ace, and ruffed another heart to eliminate the suit. Next came the spade ace and another spade, placing East on lead.

East did his best by shifting to a low diamond. Declarer should have put in the nine, in case East had jack-10-low (when shifting to a low card would give declarer a guess with king-nine-six-low). Declarer also should have seen that

East might shift to the eight from jack-eight-five or 10-eight-five, in an attempt to surround declarer’s holding.

Still, declarer played small and took West’s 10 with dummy’s queen. When he returned a diamond toward his hand, East produced the six, a telling card. For declarer’s play to matter, the diamonds would have to be evenly split, with West holding the diamond eight. If West had diamond ace-10-eight, he surely would have played small on the first round; so declarer hopped up with the king, landing his game.

ANSWER: Passing could be right, as that limits your hand and allows you to enter the auction later on without overstating your meager values, but to do so, you should have some willingness to play in one club! You do not have that, so respond one heart. You could easily have a game opposite a strong hand with a fit, and even if you go down in hearts, it may be cheaper than playing in clubs.

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