ACES ON BRIDGE

The art of reading is to skip judiciously. — P.G. Hamerton

South might have raised his partner’s one-no-trump response to three, showing a hand too good for a three-heart rebid. But he was worried that his side might be wide open in one of the pointed suits, so he tried four hearts.

West kicked off with the spade king, then played another spade to East’s ace. South had retained the spade four, so from East’s perspective, West might have begun with a five-card holding, though he also might have overcalled one spade with that. And since the defense likely needed a third spade trick to set the game, East wisely continued the suit.

At trick four, it was unlikely that anything would come from the trump suit, so West turned his attention to the minors. The bidding marked declarer with the club ace (and

East might have cashed it if he had it), so West counted declarer for nine top tricks. If East had the diamond king, there would be nowhere for declarer to go. Therefore, West placed the diamond king with South, giving him 10 tricks unless the diamonds were blocked. So West had to play declarer as starting with a 3=7=1=2 shape with the missing minor-suit top cards.

If so, and if West exited passively, he could be squeezed on the run of the trumps and forced to unguard one of the minors. (Declarer would cash the club ace early to reveal the position before dummy’s final discard.) Having made it this far, West shifted accurately to a diamond, extracting dummy’s late entry and breaking up the squeeze. ANSWER: Double.You have the perfect hand, albeit a minimum one, for a responsive double. This usually denies four spades, so partner will strive to compete to four of a minor. If West goes on to four hearts, a real possibility, you will be glad to have shown your smattering of values, allowing partner to judge better how to proceed.