ACES ON BRIDGE

“I always voted at my party’s call

And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.”

— W.S. Gilbert

Reaching slam on today’s deal is not hard; making it is quite another matter. On the lead of the heart jack, you realize that the blockage in communication in clubs makes cashing all your winners rather hard. The weakness in dummy’s trump spots poses an additional risk of a ruff or overruff as you try to reach dummy.

At first glance, it appears you must rely on clubs being 4-3. However, there is an extra chance: You may be able to come home against a 5-2 club break if you time the play perfectly.

After the lead of the heart jack, let’s see what might happen if you win the ace, then go after the ruffs in dummy at once. If declarer cashes the club king, then the heart king, then ruffs a heart, he must next play dummy’s club winners. East ruffs in, and though South can overruff, the contract must now fail. If declarer leads his fourth heart, West ruffs in with the nine and will score the king later.

This outcome is avoided by leading one of your minor honors in spades at trick two. Suppose West ducks: You cash the spade ace, unblock your club king and take the heart ruffs. You can discard your remaining losers on the clubs, losing just one trump.

Should West take the spade king, you win the return, draw a second round of trumps and proceed as before. Since East, the hand short in clubs, started with only two spades, he can no longer ruff away your club winner, and the contract comes home.

ANSWER: Some people play Equal Level Conversion, meaning that correcting two clubs to two diamonds here does not show any extra values. I’m not a fan of that approach, so I can bid two no-trump without feeling I’m stepping too far out of line. My diamond builders are working overtime, so I have enough to invite game, even though I still don’t have a great hand.