ACES ON BRIDGE

South’s overcall of one no-trump might not have been everybody’s choice, but he decided that his balanced hand was most suitable to show via the simple no-trump overcall rather than by a takeout double. This is a reasonable principle when balanced, though whether one should, for example, conceal a five-card major is less clear.

North now had a straightforward raise to game, and West decided to lead a club since he thought his partner would have real clubs as a third-seat opener. This is also a sound idea: When in third seat with a marginal opener, try to bid a suit you want partner to lead, even if that might be a four-card major.

It looks natural to play low from dummy at trick one, but East would win with the club queen and immediately shift to hearts. The defenders would then be in position to win a club, a diamond and three hearts.

This would all be very unlucky, but the location of the club honors was known at trick one from the spot-card chosen by West. South was fully on the ball and had no reason to expose himself to ill fortune, since he had a sure-trick line at his disposal. He could afford to win the first trick with dummy’s club ace and immediately knock out the diamond ace. This assured him of four diamond tricks in addition to the three spades, one heart and one club that were always there for the taking. The club seven in dummy represented a fourth-round stopper.

ANSWER: While you could invite in spades immediately, this hand looks closer to a defensive hand with incidental spade support than a raise. I would redouble initially, planning to raise spades on my next turn. This gets my values across at once and allows me to show the support later. Since our side has the boss suit, we cannot easily be pre-empted out of it.

“I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own.” -- Ludwig Wittgenstein