ACES ON BRIDGE

“Map me no maps, sir; my head is a map, a map of the whole world.”

— Henry Fielding

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In this deal from the Schapiro Spring Foursomes in the U.K., declarer had a road map to his contract. East exploited the vulnerability with his four-heart bid, and South naturally showed his second suit. For all he knew, his side could be cold for slam. North corrected to five diamonds, and West tabled the heart jack, covered by the queen and king. East read declarer for 11 minor-suit cards and duly shifted to his singleton. Declarer knew to rise with the ace and then play two rounds of trumps, ending in dummy. Once the lie of the trumps was revealed, declarer could be fairly sure that East’s shape was 2=7=3=1. He ruffed a heart to cut the defensive link and then ran his trumps.

When declarer led his final diamond in the six-card ending, West had to reduce to four spades and only one club honor; otherwise, declarer might run the spades with the aid of the finesse. However, declarer simply pitched a spade from dummy and gave up a club to land his game, made on a squeeze without the count. A spade shift from East at trick two would have broken up the squeeze, but declarer still could have succeeded with some accurate card-reading: He draws trumps, cashes one spade, ruffs a heart and then rumbles the trumps, pitching a heart from dummy. If West reduced to four clubs, dummy would come down to three clubs and one spade, whereupon a low club would endplay West. If he kept one spade and three clubs, dummy would reduce to two cards in each black suit. Again, a low-club exit would settle West’s hash.

ANSWER: Cautious types will bid four diamonds (if they play it as natural) and close up shop. The more aggressive will see the upside of bringing clubs into play and consuming bidding space; they will bid four no-trump to show the minors. I am firmly in the latter camp, with a less attractive option being to bid four diamonds and then introduce clubs. That might make it easier for my opponents to judge the five-level.