ACES ON BRIDGE

“Trust everybody, but cut the cards.” — Finley Peter Dunne On today’s deal, an intermediate jump overcall propelled Northsouth to a pushy game, when a more normal one-level bid might have seen them subside in partscore.

East’s jump overcall systematically suggested 8-12. South doubled, then upgraded his spade stopper and quick tricks in the side suits to take a shot at three notrump. East let the spade queen lead run around to declarer, who took his king, since it would have been unwise to duck with the hearts exposed. Declarer next cashed the diamond king, under which East dropped a tricky queen! The 10, if read as a true card, might have persuaded declarer to guess the suit. This way, East thought that declarer was likely to finesse the diamond nine on the second round if he had a doubleton diamond. Instead of taking East’s card at face value and immediately finessing the diamond nine, South next played three rounds of clubs, ending in hand, with East pitching a heart on the third. Declarer then played a diamond to the ace and scored up his vulnerable game. Why did he do this? He knew East had six spades and two clubs, leaving five red-suit cards. Many players would have hesitated to pre-empt in spades with a fair four-card heart suit instead of making a simple overcall. So, declarer deduced East’s 6=3=2=2 shape. Incidentally, East might have considered putting up the spade ace at trick one, then shifting to the heart nine, playing his partner for kingjack-eight-low.

ANSWER: Bid three spades, a natural and invitational call, showing a good suit. The hand is not worth forcing to game, and a spade contract could easily be superior to no-trump. Your weak spade spots might give you cause for concern, but partner can always bid three no-trump if he has tricks on the side and short spades.