ACES ON BRIDGE

“We ne’er can be Made happy by compulsion.”

-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

One of the most dangerous emotions for a bridge player is that of premature euphoria. It is easy to be on your guard when you can see traps set all around you, but it is more difficult to remain alert when the road seems very clear.

Declarer succeeded in bringing home four spades today after West led the heart queen. He won the trick in dummy and played the spade king, which East took before cashing his heart winner and exiting with a second trump. At this point, declarer could have been forgiven for relying on the diamond finesse, which succeeds if either minor-suit honor is wellplaced or if diamonds split. As the cards lie, this line would be doomed to failure.

South, however, saw a little further into the hand. He cashed the diamond ace first, then came back to hand with a trump and led a diamond to dummy’s queen. East could take his king, but was endplayed. When he returned a heart, it allowed declarer to ruff in dummy and discard his club loser.

The point of the hand is that if the diamond finesse succeeds, you do not need to take it at once. You have enough entries to lead up to the queen-jack twice later on and get a discard for your potential club loser. Had the diamond queen held, declarer would have led a club to the ace and another diamond toward the jack. He could always fall back on the club finesse eventually if nothing else worked.

ANSWER: The safest way into the auction here is to double rather than to bid two hearts. Yes, you might miss a 5-3 fit, but equally a 4-4 club fit might play better than an eight- or seven-card heart fit. Your objective in overcalling here is not to bid game, but to hope to find a fit, or to push the opponents up. Doubling is the best way to do that.