ACES ON BRIDGE

“Now is not the hour that requires such help, nor those defenders.”

-- Virgil

Today’s deal presents a problem in both the auction and the play. As South, you show your two suits on your first two turns, receiving tepid preference for spades from your partner. Should you pass or try for game? In my opinion, your intermediates make you just worth a call of three diamonds, which shows real extras and suggests a fragment (three-card suit) in diamonds. When partner raises to four diamonds, it might be most discreet to pass. However, you decide to take a shot at four spades, and when dummy comes down, you realize that neither you nor your partner has exactly underbid the hand.

Against four spades, West leads the heart four to East’s queen, and that player switches to the club four. Plan the play.

It looks as if you need spades to break 3-3 (which is probably the case, or East might have continued hearts at trick two). If you rise with the club ace and try to ruff clubs in the dummy, you run the risk of losing a diamond ruff or a trump promotion. A better line is to take the finesse of the club queen. First of all, the finesse might win. If it doesn’t, West won’t be able to continue the suit, so he will revert to hearts. You ruff, ruff a club in dummy, and start on trumps.

Since trumps break 3-3, the defenders are helpless. They can force you again, but you draw trumps and take four spades, two clubs and four diamonds, to emerge with 10 tricks.

ANSWER: For all those fans of quality over quantity, I threw this problem in to see if you had been paying attention. There are few people keener on raising with three trumps than I am -- but not with a 4-3-3-3 pattern. This is a one-no-trump rebid; let partner look for three-card heart support if he wants.