THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“Desperation can make a person do surprising things.” -- Veronica Roth .....................

When you feel confident that your side has a game on, but the opponents bid on to sacrifice in a suit that outranks yours, you have to resist the temptation to go chasing rainbows. If the best you can do is defeat their game, then make sure you go plus, rather than ruing what might have been.

In today’s deal, West led the heart five against four spades doubled, and on winning with the ace, East returned a trump. He had failed to take into account the threat posed by dummy’s clubs. Even if South did not have the club queen, declarer would surely discard his losing diamonds on clubs if given the opportunity.

The only chance for the defense appears to be to establish two diamond winners before East’s club ace is knocked out. For that to work, West must hold the diamond jack. So, a low diamond at trick two may be desperate, but it looks to be the only chance, and when West turns up with the jack, the game fails.

The blame was not all East’s, though. West knew there was at most one heart trick coming for the defense. Since he had no re-entry, why not lead the heart king, taking a peek at dummy to gauge where next to attack? Had he done so, East would have followed with the heart queen, suit preference for the higher-ranked minor, and the deal would have been over.