ACES ON BRIDGE

“It was a maxim with Foxey — our revered father, gentlemen — ‘Always suspect everybody.’”

— Charles Dickens

South made an aggressive gametry of three diamonds to get his side to the reasonable game at the 2023 World Transnationals.

West did well to lead clubs. Declarer took the club ace and ran the heart queen, unblocking the six from hand as West took the heart king. Declarer ruffed the next club with a middle trump. Now what?

Declarer needed to bring diamonds in for one loser, and he wanted to avoid losing the lead to East; otherwise, a spade would be fired through the king. One option was to cross to dummy in hearts and then try the diamond queen, but that would limit declarer’s chances in the suit itself. The best line would be to lead toward one of dummy’s honors, and playing up to the diamond queen was far less likely to let East in.

However, after drawing the remaining trumps with the heart ace, the original declarer erred by laying down the diamond ace. West thoughtfully unblocked his king, reasoning that declarer would simply have finessed if he had the diamond jack. This paved the way for East to score a diamond trick and shove a spade through for down one.

Declarer should have started with a low diamond from hand, not the ace. If West went in with the king, the defense would be over. Playing low would be little better, as declarer would then go up with the queen and lead another diamond, ducking East’s nine. This sets up dummy’s diamonds to provide two discards, with the heart 10 as a late entry to dummy after declarer has unblocked the diamond ace.

ANSWER: Even if you can pass one notrump, you should not. Show your second suit. Your spades are strong enough to play a 5-2 fit if partner gives preference to that suit, and who are you to say that partner doesn’t have clubs? Tell him what you have, not what he has. Even facing a passed hand, I would still bid two clubs. A 5-4-2-2 pattern is typically best played in a suit contract, not no-trump.