ACES ON BRIDGE

“In the nightmare of the dark

All the dogs of Europe bark.”

— W.H. Auden

“Man bites dog” is a relatively rare news headline, but in today’s deal we might see an equally rare headline: “Meckstroth goes down in makeable contract.” Jeff Meckstroth has the unparalleled distinction of winning the IBPA Best Played Hand award in consecutive years, and he was part of the USA1 team that won the Bermuda Bowl in January 2000. But he will not look back on this deal from the semifinal match between USA1 and USA2 with affection .

Put yourself in South’s shoes in the contract of three no-trump on the lead of the heart three, suggesting a good suit. East takes the king and returns the four; play on.

If you put up the heart queen at the second trick, it will hold. Now, when you play on clubs, you might find the club queen onside and the suit splitting. If not, you may still recover if both diamond honors are onside or the defense cannot get the heart suit going against you. However, both chances failed here, and declarer went down.

I wonder if Meckstroth might have ducked the second heart — a play that has the effect of killing the opponents’ heart suit, albeit at the cost of a trick. When West takes his heart nine, he can clear the hearts, but has no more entries to the suit. Declarer can then play on diamonds to set up his nine tricks.

ANSWER: You must bid two spades; support with support. If you had a balanced hand by moving a low diamond to the heart suit, one no-trump would be permissible. As it is, suppressing the spades would make it hard to find the right part-score, or even the right game if partner had a shapely hand.