aces on bridge

“The Government are carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in their hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don’t badger them.”

-- Abraham Lincoln

One of my regular correspondents is Sally Brock from England, who has been a regular on the national women’s team for 30 years or so. (She started playing international bridge in her 20s.) She has now formed a solid partnership with Nicola Smith, and they spearheaded the women’s team that finished fourth in the recent World Championships, then went on to win second place in the Mind Sports Games in China.

Today, Sally was declarer in three no-trump on a diamond lead to the jack and king. Back came a diamond to dummy’s ace, East pitching a middle spade. Brock took the heart finesse next, as the 10 appeared from East. The heart was won by West for a club switch. East won this with king, Sally following with her small card instinctively, then realizing she had forgotten to unblock her 10 -- which would have made her task of endplaying East to lead another club much easier.

Declarer still managed to recover by playing East for both high spades. She cashed all of her red-suit winners, discarding a club from dummy. If East came down to two spades and three clubs, South would build a heart trick. If she came down to two clubs and three spades, Brock would take her two club winners ending in dummy and lead a spade toward her jack, collecting one more trick one way or another.

ANSWER: Once you bid one notrump to show 6-10 points, denying a major, your partner won’t play you for the earth whatever you do. Here you should double. This is NOT penalties -- how could it be? It shows a maximum hand and suitability for defense.