ACES ON BRIDGE

“Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.” -- Napoleon Bonaparte

In today’s hand, on his second turn, South felt he had a little too much to sign off at two hearts, and when North also took an aggressive position, the delicate game was reached. Nonetheless, the competitive auction should have given declarer a blueprint for the play.

Against four hearts, West led his singleton diamond. Declarer rose with dummy’s ace, and with the intention of ruffing a club in dummy, he next played dummy’s club queen. East rose with the ace and continued with the diamond king, on which West pitched a spade. Declarer ruffed the subsequent high diamond with the 10, and West thoughtfully discarded another spade. The club king was cashed and a third club was ruffed in dummy. Then came the heart nine - and again West correctly withheld the trump ace, since the dummy’s five of trumps would have protected declarer from being forced by a fourth round of clubs.

These maneuvers ensured the defeat of South’s game. If declarer played another trump, West would win and force him with a club to promote a second trump trick for the defense. And if South played on spades, West could ruff the third round, with the heart ace still to come.

So what went wrong? South should have known that West had started with exactly four spades, and, therefore, East held three. So South’s correct sequence of plays was to cash his three spade tricks after winning the diamond ace, before West could take any discards. Had South done so, he would have been home free.

ANSWER: Some textbooks tell you to redouble with all strong hands, with suit bids being limited. Not so: While new suits at the twolevel can be played as nonforcing, you should always bid naturally unless you want to defend at least two of the unbid suits. In such a case, redoubling would make sense. Here, it looks right to show your long suit first. Bid one diamond, a forcing call, planning to reveal your strength later.