ACES ON BRIDGE

“The superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of Heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occurrences.”

— Confucius When North stretches to invite game facing a 12-14 no-trump rebid, South accepts with his maximum. Declarer plays low from dummy on the spade lead and wins with his eight as East follows with a count-signal four.

In theory, the correct play with this heart combination is to lead to the queen. Should that lose, he should finesse the 10 on the way back. However, circumstances alter cases.

Here, West appears to hold both missing spade honors, with spades being 5-2. If so, West’s silence in the auction means he is unlikely to have an outside major honor. So, placing the heart king with East, declarer enters dummy in diamonds and plays a heart to the 10. This way, if West has jack-third, he must use up his entry before spades are established. Declarer can score three heart tricks when

East has king-jack-low.

West captures the heart 10 with the jack and continues with the spade king. Declarer wins that, takes his four diamond tricks and lays down the heart ace, followed by another heart. When hearts break 3-3, declarer is home free.

To start with a heart to the queen instead would see East win and return a spade, setting up the suit for West. If declarer takes the ace on the second round, the run of the diamonds will squeeze West; but declarer will have to be extraordinarily sharp to read the ending. (If West discards a club, declarer cashes the ace and exits in spades, endplaying West to lead into the heart tenace at trick 12.)

ANSWER: Bid two spades. Even facing a doubleton spade, this should be your best spot because partner will probably not be able to make use of your long suit in notrump, given that there is no side entry to your hand. In two spades, you hope to score your small spades by taking ruffs. The fact that your shortage is not opposite partner’s opener makes it more likely that one of the side suits is open.

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