ACES ON BRIDGE

“The years teach much which the days never know.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Continuing last week’s theme of giving declarer a losing option, consider East’s defense here.

South’s hyperaggressive opener got him to three no-trump, and West wisely led his fourth-highest diamond rather than the jack. Declarer won in dummy and made his best play in hearts, low to the eight, hoping for an honor-nine holding on his right. That forced the king, and back came another diamond.

Declarer won in hand, crossed to dummy with a club and then led another heart to the three and jack. Knowing the heart nine and queen were on his right, he now fell back on 3-3 clubs, unblocking dummy’s club honors before cashing the diamond queen and returning to hand with the heart ace to enjoy the 13th club.

East failed to play the card he was known to hold, albeit the problem had presented itself in an unfamiliar guise. The goal is not to make declarer go wrong in hearts, but to try to mislead him as to the layout of the hand and guide him down the losing path. If East had played the heart nine on the second round (which he was known to hold after the eight forced West’s king), declarer would have been in a quandary. After winning the heart jack, should he cash the ace and use dummy’s club entry to score the long heart, or unblock the clubs first, retaining the heart ace as a link to the long club? There would have been no easy answer, and declarer might have gone down, whereas the actual defense made his choice easy.

ANSWER: A one-diamond overcall is meant to be constructive because introducing a minor suit that takes up little space has negligible effect in tactical terms. This hand is not good enough, but if I had the diamond queen in place of a small one, I would overcall. For the record, after a one-heart or one-spade opener to my right, I might not overcall two diamonds even if the diamond two were the ace.