THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse.” -- Carlos Ruiz Zafon .....................

Would you make a try on the South cards after your partner had raised your major-suit opening? And would it matter if you had overcalled one heart and been raised to two?

Curiously, although the diamond king has become a more useful asset when you hear an opening bid of one diamond to your right, I’m not sure I would try again after partner had only raised my overcall to two. The fact that he had not produced a cue-bid raise might suggest game is unlikely to be more than a long shot.

Today, however, your gametry leads to your reaching a slightly pushy four hearts, against which West leads the diamond queen to East’s ace. East returns the club king. Plan the play.

If you win the club ace and find the king to be a singleton, you can be sure West will later get in with the club jack and switch to a spade, through dummy’s king-jack. But duck the club king, and you guarantee your side 10 tricks: one diamond, five hearts and four clubs. That is the winning play today.

Incidentally, while a spade lead would have beaten your game outright, can you see how the defenders could still have prevailed, even after the normal lead of the diamond queen? East simply ducks the opening lead and lets West win the next diamond to find the killing shift. Should East find this defense? I think so. West cannot have five diamonds, or he would have raised preemptively at his first turn.