ACES ON BRIDGE

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

— Lewis Carroll

Today’s impossible suit sequence comes after South’s only slightly pushy three-diamond rebid. With a side ace and fivecard support, North should go past three no-trump at once, and while four diamonds is forcing, a jump to four hearts is a better call. Since North could bid three hearts naturally, this should set diamonds. (Some would play it as promising shortness rather than a control.) Now Blackwood gets South to the good slam.

West opts to lead his singleton spade, hoping to find his partner with a pointed-suit ace. That tips declarer off to the bad distribution, but if trumps split 2-1, he can claim his slam. When East shows out on the first diamond, declarer sees he cannot ruff spades in dummy. He simply draws trumps, East throwing a club and two hearts. Now declarer concedes a club in the hope of making something of the suit; East wins the king and fires back the heart jack. Declarer carefully wins that in hand before crossing to the heart ace to produce a six-card ending.

East must keep four spades and thus only two clubs. Declarer now ruffs a club, cashes the spade king, ruffs a spade, and ruffs another club. That establishes the club jack for declarer’s 12th trick.

Nicely played. However, East can set the slam if he returns a spade at trick six. That cuts declarer’s communication in spades. If South cashes two hearts ending in dummy, East can freely pitch a spade, while if declarer runs the hearts ending in hand, East would unguard the clubs.

ANSWER: There is no simple solution here without some delicate modern science. A call of three clubs must promise real extras — not this hand. Should you risk it? I think not, but make the heart jack the king, and I’d bid. If two no-trump showed a shapely hand, as a puppet to three clubs, you might choose to try that, though. See: csbnews.org/ conventions-good-bad-2nt-bylarry-cohen/.