ACES ON BRIDGE

“The English country gentleman galloping after a fox — the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.”

— Oscar Wilde

The cards lay favorably for Northsouth in this deal, but West found a way to put declarer off the scent.

South chose to rebid one no-trump rather than repeat his diamonds, a decision I am not sure I agree with. It did not affect the final contract; when North offered a choice of games, South had the worst possible support for spades, so he opted for no-trump. Even so, both four hearts and four spades might have played reasonably here.

West kicked off with the club ace and, upon collecting the five from his partner, pressed on with the club six. The defenders took the first four rounds of the suit, then West got off play with a heart. Declarer, who had shed spades from both hands on the run of the clubs, now reeled off his heart winners. He hoped to find the diamond queen onside and either for the suit to split 3-3, or for the hand with the long diamond to hold both spade honors. Then there would be a squeeze.

When nothing materialized, declarer crossed to the diamond king, West dropping the 10 in the hope of giving declarer a losing option. Declarer fell for the bait and laid down the diamond ace next, playing for queen-10 doubleton, his only chance if that 10 was a true card. Thus, declarer lost his laydown game, going down two tricks.

West's false-card was a good one, but had declarer respected his opponent, or had he encountered the position before, he would not have let himself be led down the garden path.

ANSWER: Some would bid two diamonds over a one-spade overcall, hoping to show the hearts later, but that is debatable, and bidding diamonds certainly feels wrong over a two-spade call. You need to double, to ensure you can get the other major into the game. Three diamonds may lead partner to bid three no-trump, repeat clubs or even raise diamonds when a better game is available.