ACES ON BRIDGE

“Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.”

— Jean de La Fontaine

Everybody knows that second hand plays low, and that you should cover an honor with an honor. Well, where does one proverb stop and the other one start? Today’s deal goes to prove that you should always use your head, not blindly put your trust in old saws without pausing for thought.

Against three no-trump, West elected to lead the diamond nine. Putting on his most soporific voice, South called for dummy’s diamond queen, to place the lead in dummy. Then he gently advanced the heart eight onto the table.

East, still dozing after a heavy lunch, played small, letting West take his heart 10.

Then came a shift to the club queen. South won in hand and crossed to dummy with a diamond to lead a second round of hearts. When the king appeared, he took his ace and gave up a heart to West. The defense could collect only their two spade winners, since hearts were now established.

If you look at the heart distribution here, not only could covering the heart eight never lose, but on the actual deal it would have saved the defense a vital trick — West’s heart seven would become a third stopper in the suit.

Strangely enough, the defenders had one more chance: Had West found a shift to the spade king at trick three and followed up with the eight, it might have been enough to persuade East to duck.

West could subsequently play a third spade through dummy’s tenace and collect two more tricks in that suit.

ANSWER: Bid two hearts. You should give false preference in case partner can act again, then you will be happy to press on to game with an ace, a fitting king and decent club builders. Without the club jack, or with king-fourth spades, you might consider passing two clubs since you would be far less enthusiastic about your partner bidding on.