ACES ON BRIDGE

“Beware the easy griefs That fool and fuel nothing.” — Gwendolen Brooks

Today, North and South did not hold back in their quest to reach slam. Declarer took the heart king lead and saw he had to arrange to pitch heart losers on the clubs at once. If clubs split 3-3 or the queen fell doubleton, South would not need a spade trick, but if declarer had to ruff two clubs, he would have to set up a spade eventually.

If clubs did not behave, South would need three trump entries to establish and cash the long clubs, whereas he would need only two on a more friendly break. The contract would be impossible if East had jack-third in diamonds, while if he had jack-doubleton in the trump suit, declarer would need clubs to produce five tricks.

One possibility was to play the diamond ace and another diamond, but South decided simply to hope to find the diamond jack onside rather than play for a 2-2 split and for the clubs to come in. After unblocking the club ace, he finessed the diamond 10, cashed the club king for a heart pitch and ruffed a club high.

Had the club queen appeared, declarer would have drawn trumps ending in dummy, but South now knew he needed a 2-2 trump split. He played a diamond intermediate to the ace and then another club, ruffed high. After reentering dummy with the diamond four, declarer threw a heart and a spade on the clubs, squeezing West.

Reducing to one heart would see declarer ruff a heart and lead a spade toward dummy, so West bared the spade ace. South could now call for the spade jack to land his slam.

ANSWER: Double. You could easily lose a heart fit by overcalling two spades. A takeout double risks a club response, but only when partner does not have a major. While I would overcall one spade over one diamond (expecting to get a second chance if it were our hand), the options are more limited here, and I want to focus on reaching a major if I only get one call.