ACES ON BRIDGE

“Life (is) a long preparation for something that never happens.”

-- W. B. Yeats

In today’s slam, South saw at once that he was very well placed to make 12 tricks. All he needed was four spade tricks, so he intended to cash the spade queen and finesse the 10 as a safety play on the second round of the suit, protecting himself against a five-one spade break with West having the length.

Accordingly, he won the opening lead in hand, took the spade queen and led a second spade toward dummy. When West discarded, it was time for a new plan.

South took the spade king, then played off the king and queen of clubs, followed by the king and queen of diamonds. East followed suit each time, so now South had to commit himself.

Since his combined holding in hearts was longer than in either minor, and West’s opening lead suggested length there, South mentally crossed his fingers and took his remaining high heart, which had the effect of squeezing East into letting go of something he did not want to part with.

Not surprisingly, he chose a small diamond, which seemed safe enough. But South now took the diamond ace, forcing East to pitch a club. That allowed South to play off dummy’s remaining club honor, reducing dummy and East down to just three spades each. At this point, declarer led a low spade from the board, forcing East to win and lead into dummy’s spade tenace at trick 12.

ANSWER: You should reopen with a double here, showing extra values with at least tolerance for the unbid suit, diamonds. There is, I admit, a possibility that your partner may believe you have better hearts than you do, but if your partner bids two hearts, you can worry about that on the next round of the auction.