ACES ON BRIDGE

“We live and learn, but not the wiser grow.”

— John Pomfret

This was another deal from a local teams game in which different approaches by the two declarers yielded a swing. Against four hearts, the lead was the same at both tables: the diamond 10.

At the first table, declarer flew up with the ace, while East played an encouraging six. Declarer then crossed to hand with a top trump. After returning to dummy with the club 10, South finessed the heart jack. West won, and since his side needed at least one diamond trick, he continued with the diamond three to try to give count in the suit. East won and carefully shifted to the spade king, then cashed another spade to defeat the contract.

At the second table, declarer also won the first trick. Then he cashed the top hearts before playing on clubs. When the third round of clubs was not ruffed, he was able to discard his remaining diamond on a good club. West ruffed in with the trump queen and exited with a diamond, but a spade ruff in dummy was the tenth trick.

What are the odds for each approach? Both plans would succeed if the heart queen appeared singleton or doubleton from East. Otherwise, the first approach makes the contract on just half of the 3-2 breaks, about a third of the time. The second declarer succeeds when there is a doubleton trump queen on his left, but also when the hand with three trumps has at least three clubs. This has just short of a 50-50 chance of bringing the contract home.

ANSWER: Bid three diamonds.

Despite having only 8 points, this hand is worth an invitation to game opposite a 15-17 no-trump. Having your honors in your long suits is very useful, and the spade intermediates are worth an extra high card point. As a passed hand, this sequence should be forcing for one round, but not game forcing. Let partner make the final decision.