ACES ON BRIDGE
“There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.”
— T.S. Eliot
In a Spingold round of 64, Richard Pavlicek and Jim Munday did not manage to reach the optimum contract on this deal. Pavlicek had to play the spots off the cards to avoid a big loss.
When Pavlicek treated his hand as 25-26, Munday opted for no-trump. (Six diamonds would have been much easier.) Had North offered a choice of slams with a jump to five no-trump, that might have gotten the partnership to diamonds, but once South shows a balanced hand, it is not so easy to reach the best spot.
After the passive lead of the spade three, Pavlicek could see that he could simply lead a heart to the 10 as the simple play for 12 tricks, but if he was wrong, the contract would be doomed. So he delayed making that play until the very last moment. Five rounds of diamonds saw East pitch five times: spade, spade, heart, spade, club. West followed three times, then pitched a club and a spade.
Now Pavlicek knew that it would be safe to take the remaining top two spades, finishing in hand.
East threw a heart and a club, West a heart.
The opponents remained with five clubs and five hearts between them, and declarer correctly inferred that East had begun with five hearts. Also, because he had kept three, they probably included the jack. If East had ace-jack-third, declarer had no chance, so Pavlicek played for the heart ace to lie to his left. He led a heart to the king, then ducked the next heart. When the ace fell, he was home.
ANSWER: Bid four hearts. There is no point in taking a slow route and letting your opponents into the bidding. You have a big heart fit and should preempt to the limit, putting the maximum pressure on West, who may not enjoy the guess. This is not an action to be taken at unfavorable vulnerability, but as long as you and your partner agree on the fact that the call is preemptive, I’d risk it.