ACES ON BRIDGE

“There is something behind the throne greater than the king himself.”

— William Pitt the Elder .....................

In this deal from the 2023 Crockfords finals, Tim Rees led the club seven against three no-trump. Declarer took East’s 10 with the queen and then cashed the diamond queen and ace. West let go of a club, whereupon declarer led a heart to the eight and jack. West, of course, cleared clubs now, cashing the ace and continuing with the nine.

Rob Cliffe, East, started with a spade discard. His second pitch was the heart king, knowing that West had no entry to his two club winners, and that South hoped to set up his long heart. Had he discarded a second spade, declarer would have led a heart toward hand, ducking if East played the king, but otherwise winning with the ace and clearing the suit to make the contract.

Cliffe’s discard of the heart king created an entry to his partner’s hand such that declarer could no longer work on hearts. Although South could establish a long spade, he could not do so without first cashing dummy’s third diamond trick, thus setting up too many winners for the defense.

At the other table, the play went the same until West shifted to spades at trick five. Declarer took East’s queen with the ace and then should have ducked another heart, but he played a club. West won with the ace and cleared the suit.

East could no longer afford to unblock the heart king now. With West having the sole spade guard, that player eventually fell victim to a squeeze-endplay in the majors. So, declarer came home with nine tricks.

ANSWER: Some 5-3-3-2 hands should raise, but this is not one of them. With three small hearts and stoppers in the other suits, rebid one no-trump. By contrast, if I had a small spade doubleton and king-third in hearts, I would raise to two hearts and feel confident that this was the percentage action. Three trumps and a ruffing value equals four trumps in my book.