ACES ON BRIDGE

*11-15, two or more diamonds **One major

Opening Lead: Spade jack

Today’s deal, from the 3rd European Winter Games, sees Jeff Meckstroth playing in inspired fashion.

After a Precision one-diamond opener, North-South competed to three hearts over two spades, and Bauke Muller led the spade jack, ducked to the queen. Declarer Meckstroth took one high trump, gathering the 10 from West, and then led the club king, followed by the jack. East, Simon de Wijs, accurately ducked twice to deny declarer an entry to the dummy. A third club put de Wijs in to cash the spade ace. He then had to broach the diamonds. Shifting to the diamond queen would give Meckstroth a guess, but if he chose correctly, he could easily force an entry to dummy, covering with the king and then inserting the diamond eight on the second round.

De Wijs did better by shifting to the diamond three. Had declarer put up the diamond king, he would have failed, but he guessed correctly by playing low, forcing the ace. Meckstroth took the next diamond and played a third round, putting East in to grant declarer an entry to dummy. A successful trump finesse brought home the contract.

Why did Meckstroth get it right? He had correctly placed the heart queen and the black-suit aces with East. De Wijs was unlikely to hold the diamond ace plus a minor honor, or he would have opened with a strong one club or strong no-trump. The critical layouts were where East had queen-jacklow or ace-third of diamonds. West might have led the diamond queen if he held both the queen and jack, so Meckstroth deduced that East held those cards.

ANSWER: An overcall of one no-trump is not appealing with this spade holding, and you might miss hearts by doubling. Bid two hearts and then plan to come back in over a raise to two spades by doubling. This is not foolproof, but every other option is surely worse.

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