Aces On Bridge

Today’s deal saw a contract of four hearts where success or failure center around limiting the diamond losers to two. Admittedly, the defenders can lead a spade and take a diamond ruff at once to defeat the game. However, after a top club lead, declarer had a chance, though the play is more complex than you might imagine. Follow it through to the very end, and cover up the East and West cards if you want to give yourself a real challenge.

Let’s say you win the club queen lead and draw trumps, as West discards two clubs. When you play a spade to the king, East wins and presses on with spades. You win the queen and cash your remaining club winner. When you now ruff a spade, you have reduced to a fivecard ending with four diamonds and a trump in each hand. You lead the diamond four from dummy to the 10 and king and ...

BZZZ! Thank you for playing, and here is a beautiful parting gift. In this position, West wins the ace and leads back a low diamond. Now, whether you play low or the jack, you are doomed. If you put in the seven and cross to hand in hearts, LHO can pitch the diamond nine and take the last two tricks with a club and a diamond winner. You needed to lead the diamond seven to the 10 and king. Now if you guess to play low from dummy on the diamond return, you will make your game, since you can now overtake dummy’s four and lead a third diamond.

ANSWER: Your partner’s decision to pull your redouble suggests a weak, shapely hand. It may not have been what you wanted to hear, but trust your partner and simply bid two spades now. You have shown your range, so you can let your partner decide if he wants to look for game on his own.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty -- power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” -- Wendell Phillips