ACES on bridge

“I borrow to pay my honest debts and not to squander foolishly. What’s more, I confine my borrowing to those who can well afford it. I don’t go around sponging on widows and orphans unless they have plenty.” — Will Cuppy

Today’s deal is a theme that dates back to an early Culbertson match — though it was not untypical that a deal played by one of Culbertson’s opponents was attributed in print to Ely himself!

East may be best advised to pass on the first round, though as a passed hand, it would also be reasonable to double for takeout. However, when the call of two clubs comes around to him, he should reopen the bidding with a takeout double. It would be practical for South to re-compete to three clubs, in the hope of preventing his opponents from getting together. West should not take any part in the auction now, since his partner did not double on the first round and must therefore be limited in shape or high cards, or both.

A red-suit lead would defeat the contract, but when West leads a low spade, it gives declarer some extra chances. He follows with the seven from dummy, and when East contributes the king, South can see that he surely has to lose one spade, one heart, two diamonds and at least one club. His only chance of avoiding one of these losers is to pick up a second trick in spades by throwing his queen under the king and subsequently taking a finesse against the jack. When the finesse succeeds, a diamond can be discarded on the spade ace, and the lie of the trumps is such that with the lead coming from dummy, whether declarer finesses the queen or the 10, only one club trick should be lost.

ANSWER: To have a shot to beat this, when we know that partner has short spades but hasn’t balanced, we probably need the opponents to be in a 4-3 fit. To kill dummy’s ruffing values (since we have clubs under control), I would lead a trump. An incidental upside of this defense is that declarer will occasionally guess wrongly who has the trump length.