ACES ON BRIDGE

When presented with a problem hand, you tend to look for an artificial solution. In real life, no one rings a bell to persuade you to concentrate. Consider this deal from a recent tournament.

North did well by not driving to game. West led the heart nine to the king, and East cashed the heart queen, then the ace, suggesting mild suit preference for clubs. West pitched an encouraging diamond, so East shifted to a diamond to the ace. West returned a club, and declarer claimed. Who goofed?

West “knew” declarer had five spades, two club winners and two diamonds. How could he keep declarer from scoring the diamonds? West must win the first diamond and return the suit. Now declarer has no entries to diamonds outside the trump suit.

When spades turn out to be 4-1, South’s only chance is a double finesse in clubs, which does not work today.

Note: West must throw a diamond to prevent declarer from being able to cash two tricks in the suit; and at trick four, East must shift to a diamond for West to return the suit. A club shift would immediately be fatal to the defense, but if East plays a trump instead, declarer should still succeed.

South plays three rounds of trumps, ending in dummy, then advances the club jack, covered by the queen and ace. After drawing West’s last trump, South leads a diamond.

West can duck once, but he is endplayed on the second round of diamonds. Then whichever minor he plays will be fatal.

ANSWER: Overcall two hearts. The hand is offensive in nature with a singleton in the opponent’s suit, so we should get our relatively solid hearts into the game as quickly as possible. Even if partner cannot compete, we will have solved any opening-lead problems he might encounter. Yes, you might get caught from time to time, but the positive outcomes of the overcall will be worth that investment.

“They went and told the sexton And the sexton toll’d the bell.” — Thomas Hood