ACES ON BRIDGE

“Logic and sermons never convince,

The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.”

— Walt Whitman

This week’s deals are all based on impossible suits. These are calls that cannot be natural because of the earlier bidding.

Typically, you have previously denied length in a suit by failing to bid or rebid it. So one club - one notrump - two clubs - two hearts must be artificial. A comparable sequence is: one heart - one no-trump - two clubs two spades. Each shows a good raise of partner’s suit, in context.

Here, after South’s fourth-suitforcing call, North’s two no-trump call denies a fifth club. Thus, his subsequent four-club call is a cue-bid, showing extras and agreeing spades.

South then locates the minor-suit aces, spade queen and heart king opposite, and can bid seven spades. He plans to trump a heart in dummy and ruff out the diamonds, if necessary.

South receives the predictable trump lead; how should he proceed? Needing to ruff two diamonds against the likely 4-2 split, declarer should conserve his top spades. He wins the spade queen and cashes two top hearts before turning to diamonds. The diamond king, diamond ace and a diamond ruffed high reveal the break; these are followed by a heart ruff and a further diamond ruffed high. Declarer can then draw the remaining trumps and cross to the club ace to cash the long diamond.

On this layout, West would have done better to defend actively. A club lead would have dislodged dummy’s late entry. Declarer would be forced to rely on an even diamond split, using the heart king to cash the diamonds, and the bad break in that suit would defeat him.

ANSWER: Lead the heart two. A diamond is too dangerous, in that unless your partner has the king, that lead is likely to cost an immediate trick. It is better for your partner to broach diamonds from his side. The black suits are not attractive, so all that leaves is a heart.