Aces On Bridge

“Who can tell the mischief which the very virtuous do?” -- William Makepeace Thackeray

In today’s deal, North showed a double negative on his second turn, then had a problem on his third turn over South’s three-no-trump call. Declarer would have had just eight tricks in no-trump today, so North’s decision to convert to four hearts was reasonable, leaving South in a contract with decent play. Even with the diamond finesse onside, declarer still needed some cooperation from the defenders. He received it when West quite naturally led a top club.

South realized he would need the diamond finesse, but a 4-2 club break might cause him some big trouble. He also saw that he would want a club continuation at trick two, so when East followed low to the first trick, South dropped the 10. Although a spade shift would have been the killer, West justifiably continued with a low club, and declarer captured East’s jack, and played a third club. East showed out on this trick, so West led a fourth club. Declarer would have gone down had he ruffed in dummy, but he carefully discarded the losing spade instead. From this point on, he could not be prevented from drawing a second trump, ruffing a spade in dummy and taking the diamond finesse for his 10th trick.

Although the defenders could have prevailed by shifting to a spade at trick two (and might have done so if South had followed with a small club at the first trick), one can hardly blame West for his club continuation. Sometimes you must simply tip your hat to a nice play.

ANSWER:

There are numerous ways you can misdescribe your hand here. You could bid two notrump, overbidding your hand by at least a queen; or repeat your spades, pretending you had a six-card suit. The simplest and best way to describe this hand honestly is to give preference to hearts. This suggests a doubleton and 6-10 points -- perfect!