ACES ON BRIDGE

There are many reasons for not making the knee-jerk play of third hand high. Consider the last of our themed-week deals. East was again Jean Besse, and North-South were the French masters Roger Trezel and Pierre Jais, respectively.

A club lead would set three no-trump, while normal play on West’s diamond lead would allow declarer to find his way to nine tricks. If East were to win the diamond and return the suit, declarer would simply drive out the heart king. If East shifted to clubs, declarer could duck twice before attacking hearts.

At the table, Jais wanted to encourage the defense to play diamonds, so he put up the diamond king, which Besse ducked! Now, if declarer goes after hearts, the defenders win and shift to clubs, which is exactly what happened. East had retained his diamond ace entry to the 13th club, and the contract was sunk.

Besse had asked himself, “Why would declarer play dummy’s diamond king, rather than let the lead run to his hand, unless he held the queen and jack?” Hence his duck in tempo.

Had declarer knocked out the diamond ace before finessing in hearts, East would have won the diamond ace and shifted to clubs. Declarer would have needed to duck twice, whereupon West would establish the setting trick in diamonds with the heart king as his entry. Besse’s unusual third-hand duck conserved a tempo for his side while keeping his entry to the long club.

ANSWER: Bid one no-trump. Your heart holding is likely to convert to a stopper, but even if it does not, one no-trump might still make. Take this opportunity to get your hand off your chest. A pass would leave you playing catch-up. Note that even if your decision is wrong in theory, the opponents may let you off the hook by raising hearts, so the downside of misguessing may be lower than it might seem.