ACES ON BRIDGE

“The people people have for friends your common sense appall

But the people people marry are the queerest folk of all.” — Charlotte Perkins Gilman At the Gold Coast teams tournament last year, Frances Hinden and Graham Osborne came all the way from England, and who did they get to play? The Scots team. In that match, Osborne played four hearts nicely here.

There is only one lead by West to defeat four hearts — a small trump. After Victor Silverstone’s lead of a top diamond honor, Osborne won the ace and ruffed a diamond, trying to score as many of his small trumps as possible, then crossed to a top club to lead a third diamond, ruffed by Derek Diamond and overruffed in hand. Now a club to dummy allowed declarer to ruff another diamond. The spade ace and a spade ruff produced a five-card ending where declarer was down to two losing spades and the A-J-10 of hearts, with the lead in dummy.

Osborne now led a diamond from dummy, and when East ruffed with the four, he discarded a spade. No matter which black suit East led next, Osborne could follow with his remaining spade, to ensure two of the last three tricks.

Had East retained both of his trumps in the five-card ending (together with one spade and two clubs), declarer would have needed to lead a club from dummy and pitch a spade as East won his jack.

At that point, West has one spade and four hearts and must pitch his spade to leave his partner on play. In turn, that means West will have to ruff his partner’s plain-suit winner at the next trick and be endplayed to concede two of the last three tricks.

ANSWER: It seems obvious to bid or transfer into spades, doesn’t it? Indeed, the normal route with hands like this is to transfer into spades then offer no-trump. Here, however, I believe the quality of your spades should argue for playing four spades, even facing a small doubleton. I would transfer, then bid four spades — or use a Texas transfer to spades, if that is in my repertoire.