ACES ON BRIDGE

“When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.”

-- Henry Francis Lyte

Nowadays in a European Teams Championship, the boards are predealt, the same boards are played across the field, and hand records are available at the close of play. All this is a boon for bridge journalists.

On today’s hand, from the 2010 event, the popular contract was five diamonds by South. Whether it made or failed depended to a large extent on the activities, or lack of them, by opponents during the bidding phase.

When West employed a gadget to show both majors over South’s one-diamond opener, declarer was able to pinpoint the distribution and play accordingly. Additionally, if West led and continued hearts, the majors could be eliminated and East endplayed. The worst-case scenario for South is a trump lead. With a certain heart loser, the contract depends on losing just one trick in clubs.

West is known to have at least five cards in each major, and has shown out on the second round of diamonds. So he can have two clubs at most. Of course, a simple line would be to play West for the king, but the odds favor him instead to have the jack or 10. If that is so, South can secure his contract. A low club to the nine loses to the 10, and back comes, say, a spade. Now, so long as declarer has retained a trump entry to dummy, the club queen can be led, neatly bringing down West’s jack, an example of the intrafinesse at work.

ANSWER: Your hand may look as if it will play well at no-trump because it is so square, but the holes in all three of the side suits (and the soft cards) simply make it look like a hand without much future. With such square shape, I’d simply raise to three hearts and not make a cuebid raise of hearts. Whether partner has one, two, or three small diamonds, this hand won’t be pulling its weight.