ACES ON BRIDGE

“Fear made the gods; audacity has made kings.”

— Claude de Crebillon (during the French Revolution)

Bermuda Bowl winner Michal Klukowski found an excellent defense on this hand from the quarterfinals of the mixed teams event at the European Open Championships in Istanbul last year. Mixed events are in vogue now, with a newly introduced world championship for mixed teams having started last year.

Klukowski found the low trump lead, his best chance to give Simon Cope, the declarer, a problem. Declarer won cheaply in hand and led a heart; Klukowski played low, and it certainly sounded as if West had the heart ace from the auction. So Cope reasonably put up the heart king, losing to the ace. Justyna Zmuda returned a trump, and Klukowski played two more rounds of the suit, leaving declarer in hand to lead a low heart. How would you play after West produced the seven?

At the table, Cope decided to play West for a four-card suit headed by one top honor and for East to have a doubleton double-honor, so he ducked, planning to let East win. On the club return, he would win in dummy and pass the heart 10, pitching a club and giving up just two more tricks since the suit would now be set up.

However, Zmuda won her heart eight and returned the club jack. Now, try as he might, declarer still had to lose three more tricks, for down one, when none of the side suits behaved for him.

As Cope said: “You can criticize my judgment in the play, but if Michal had not made the best play in perfect tempo, the contract would have rolled home.”

ANSWER: Bid one heart. Doubling is not wrong, but it stands to lose a 5-3 heart fit; you do not have the strength to double now and bid hearts later, as that would suggest a much better hand. If the hand were worth only one call, you might elect to double; but you have enough to take two actions here and should therefore start with one heart, planning to double a minor suit at your next turn.