ACES ON BRIDGE

“You know my methods. Apply them.” -- Sherlock Holmes

Zia Mahmood famously contributed a BOLS Bridge Tip entitled “When they don’t cover, they don’t have it.” Curiously, though, he failed to use his own good advice on this deal from the 2010 World Championships in Philadelphia. Plan the play in three no-trump on the lead of the diamond five. You play dummy’s ace, and East encourages with the jack.

A simple analysis is that you have eight top winners and need one of the spade or heart finesses. But if you pick the wrong suit, the defenders will surely run the diamonds against you. If you trust your opponents to make helpful discards, you should run the clubs and see which of the major suits your LHO appears to be guarding.

(For the record, in situations like this, you should delay asking what discards your opponents play until they have both dropped a card. There is no reason to tip them off that their discards might affect your play -- they are more likely to be honest if they think you don’t care!)

But let’s assume you are playing against competent opponents, who may gauge the position and try to disguise their holdings in the majors.

How about winning the opening lead and advancing dummy’s spade jack? It may be very hard for East to follow low without a flicker -- if he has the king and doesn’t cover, he could easily have presented you with an unmakable contract.

If East plays low without apparent discomfort, rise with the ace and later finesse against the heart king.

ANSWER: It is easy to construct hands where your side can make game in hearts. Does that mean you should bid on? Absolutely not! When you know your side has at most 24 HCP and an eight-card or possibly even a seven-card trump fit, you should pass without hesitation. At pairs, the calculation is even easier, since you really want to protect your plus score if you can.