ACES ON BRIDGE

“Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because it is an excuse that every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.”

-- John Selden

“Eight ever, nine never” reminds us that when we have eight trumps between our two hands, we should finesse for the queen, but when we have nine, we should play for the drop. This is reasonable advice, but there are sometimes good reasons for disobeying it.

At the table, declarer in six spades took the straightforward line of cashing the spade ace and king, but when the queen did not drop and the diamond finesse was also wrong, he had to go down. Can you see how he might have done better?

Declarer should see that if he can time the play accurately and lose a trick to East at the critical moment, he can ensure his contract. With this aim in mind, declarer should start eliminating his heart and club losers. He should win the heart king, cross to dummy with a club, cash the heart ace, ruff a heart, then go back to a club and ruff the fourth heart.

Now he can cash the club ace, discarding a diamond, and finally the time has come to play trump. Declarer should see that it doesn’t matter if he loses a trump trick when East has a doubleton queen, as East will be endplayed. So declarer should cash the spade king and play a spade to the 10. If it holds, then all his problems are over, but if it loses to East’s potential queen, then the defender will have to play a diamond into dummy’s tenace or give a ruff and discard.

ANSWER: Partner’s double suggests values and the unbid suits. Your choice is unpalatable: a penalty pass without a trump honor, a rebid of the spade suit with only five moderate cards, or a response in a three-card suit if you bid three clubs. Which is least offensive? I do not know, but I’d guess that even if passing is right in theory, a retreat to three clubs works out best in practice.