ACES ON BRIDGE

“Great contest follows, and much learned dust

Involves the combatants; each claiming truth,

And truth disclaiming both.”

— William Cowper

At the Dyspeptics Club, the rivalries are more than about winning and losing, since there is an unspoken contest between North and East, each of whom considers himself far superior to the other.

While neither of them would consider criticizing the other directly (as opposed to eviscerating their hapless partners) when the opportunity arises, a cryptic aside can turn the knife just as sharply as a direct criticism.

Today’s deal gave North the opportunity to add insult to injury after an unsophisticated auction had led South to a marginal six spades. When East competed over North’s transfer bid, you can hardly blame South for joining in, and that led North to something of an overbid when he took control and drove to slam.

West led the heart eight to East’s ace, and when that player returned a trump, declarer could simply draw trumps and claim, disposing of both of dummy’s diamond losers on the winning hearts.

While South was waiting for his partner to acknowledge the brilliance of his play, North turned sympathetically to East and commented on what a difficult opportunity he had missed. Stung, East asked what North meant. Can you see the answer?

West’s spot-card lead had to be from shortage, so taking the heart ace was virtually conceding defeat. The only real chance was that partner would hold the diamond king, so East should have followed at trick one with the heart jack.

ANSWER: Since two hearts by you would be natural and forcing, a jump to three hearts sets diamonds and shows shortage. That is sensible, but you might now miss a 6-2 spade fit. It is far from clear that the alternative of a three-club call would see your partner support spades with a doubleton. So maybe the splinter is best, since otherwise partner may be focused too much on no-trump with no spade fit.