ACES ON BRIDGE

When we last gathered roses in the garden, I found my wits; but truly you lost yours. — John Ford

This was a deal from the quarterfinals at the world championships in Lyon last August. When South declared four spades, West generally led a top diamond.

The New Zealand West then played a second diamond, and the Dutch declarer ruffed and guessed to take the club finesse, a simple and seductive line. But when it lost, a heart back settled his hash immediately for down one.

By contrast, after the same first two tricks, the New Zealand declarer ruffed and led a low spade toward dummy at trick three. West correctly played low — which would have been necessary if his partner had the spade ace rather than the club king. The spade queen won, and declarer played a low spade back to his ace, dropping the king, then took the club finesse and was home against any defense. A far tougher defense would have been for West to switch to a club at trick two. If declarer finesses, East wins and can switch to a heart. However, declarer can (in theory) riposte by going up with dummy’s club ace and then playing a spade to the ace and a spade. At yet another table, the Bulgarian West cashed just one top diamond, then led a low heart away from his doubleton king! Declarer won the queen and led a low spade, West taking his king and continuing with a top diamond. Declarer ruffed, cashed dummy’s spade honors and now should have led a club to his 10. Instead, he played a heart to his jack and lost both a club and a heart trick.

ANSWER: One of the areas in which I may find myself at odds with my readers and other experts is that I believe, with hands like this, it is best to raise to two spades directly, not rebid clubs. Three trumps plus ruffing values constitutes enough support for my partner; and if we have a game, it rates to be in spades, not clubs. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at