ACES ON BRIDGE

“An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.” — Albert Einstein

North guessed well to use Stayman to reach four spades on a deal where three no-trump could have been set on repeated heart leads. The bidding had left South aware of where the missing high cards were, and he took full advantage of that.

When West led a low diamond, declarer figured that hand would hold both missing kings. A straightforward plan would not bring the contract home in that case, so South decided that the only hope was to endplay West for a heart lead. The problem was that if he played on trumps immediately, West would be able to defeat his cunning plan.

As a result of this line of thought, declarer won the first trick with dummy’s diamond king, then cashed the other diamond tops before leading a low trump. West rose with the spade ace and, not wanting to open either the heart or club suit, continued with the spade queen. Declarer countered this by playing low from dummy! Reluctantly, West shifted to a low club, which was won by declarer’s jack.

South then played a trump to the king to draw East’s last trump. He continued by playing a club to the ace and followed this with another club. West won his king but was now forced to lead hearts, allowing South to claim his contract.

If West had been able to continue with a trump after the spade queen held, declarer would have played a club to the ace, then the club queen. That still would have endplayed West if he had begun with 3=5=3=2 shape.