the aces on Bridge

“The great tragedy of Science -- the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” -- T.H. Huxley Today’s deal sees South in a delicate no-trump slam, having carefully avoided the pitfall of playing six hearts, where the defenders can crossruff the first five tricks. Against six no-trump West finds the passive heart lead and declarer has 10 top winners. He can establish a spade trick easily enough, but if he assumes West has all the high spades, he will need to create an endplay or a squeeze for the 12th trick.

Most simple squeezes involve trying to take the rest of the tricks, but where, as here, one trick has to be lost after pressure is applied, the position is often more difficult to see.

The first step in the process is easy enough. Declarer cashes four rounds of hearts, then sets out on the clubs. West can discard two spades on the hearts without discomfort. However, the four rounds of clubs do put West under pressure. He sluffs two spades early, then a painful diamond, but in the six-card ending, he has three diamonds and three spades left. What should he do now? Since a spade is obviously fatal, West must hope his partner has the diamond jack, so discards a diamond.

Now declarer cashes the diamond ace and king, reducing West to his three spades. Declarer then leads a spade to his king, which West must win and lead a spade away from his jack. Declarer runs the spade around to his hand and has the rest of the tricks.

ANSWER: When you hold a balanced 10-count facing a minimum opening bid, your first reaction should not be to try for game. Reasons to bid on include extra trump length, a long side-suit or support for partner. In this case you have no aces and no support for partner’s original suit, so pass looks clear-cut.