THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“What is a society without a heroic dimension?” -- Jean Baudrillard

Today’s deal comes from the match between Indonesia and Australia in the 1980 Olympiad, and Dick Cummings was the hero. In the closed room, Indonesia had stopped in partscore, but Dick promoted himself to the heart game. After a top diamond lead, Cummings ruffed and made the practical play of the heart ace from hand. He continued with the heart jack, and East won his heart queen and avoided shortening declarer’s trumps with a second diamond. Instead, he led a spade to the jack and ace. Cummings therefore shortened his trumps himself by ruffing a diamond, then cashed the king and queen of spades. Instead of taking the club finesse, Cummings real-- ized that he needed nothing more than that East should have one club. He therefore carefully led a club to the ace and tried the spade 10. If East ruffed this high or low it would be suicidal, so he discarded a club, as did declarer. Cummings now ruffed dummy’s last diamond, and at this point exited from hand with his last club. South’s last two cards were the heart nine and seven, securely poised over the king and eight, and that guaranteed him one more trick. As you can see, if East had held the doubleton club king, taking the club finesse would have allowed the defense to prevail in the six-card ending by winning the king and returning the suit; now the timing is all wrong for the trump coup. This hand epitomizes the strategy identified by Rixi Markus: “Bid boldly, play safe.”

Answer: You are far too good to pass, since you could be cold for game in two or three different strains. While this is a normal response of one spade to an opening one-heart bid, I would prefer to bid two clubs in response to an overcall. It may make it harder to get to spades, but I would avoid responding in a four-card suit if I had a sensible alternative.