THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” -- Warren Buffett .....................

When South heard his partner show a strong hand, he had a way to make a mild slam-try in spades, and North was happy to accept.

Declarer won the opening diamond l ead, drew two rounds of trump, then crossed to a top heart and ruffed a diamond. Next he stripped off the hearts and exited with a third spade, hoping to receive a club shift. However, West had a safe exit with his fourth heart, and declarer had to concede a club trick in the end,

Instead of exiting with a trump at trick eight, declarer should ruff another diamond in hand. Now West must pitch a club -- if he overruffs, he is endplayed, either to lead a club or to give declarer a ruff and discard.

At this point declarer finesses in clubs and ruffs the last diamond. West is now caught in an unusual squeeze. While West has no real need to retain his last heart, if he discards it, declarer exits with the last spade. West is endplayed and must lead clubs around to declarer, and the defense’s sure trick has vanished.

West’s only chance here is to bare his club king instead of throwing the 13th heart -now South may misread the position by leading his last trump and trying to endplay West with his trump trick. Then West would have the 13th heart to cash.

Of course, declarer may not misguess the position, but you have to give him the chance to go wrong!

AnswEr: While you would not have considered any action other than a oneheart call had East passed, here you should not introduce a weak four-card suit when you are distinctly at the lower end of the range for a response. I’d suggest passing initially, with a view to balancing with one no-trump if the opponents come to rest in one spade.