ACES ON BRIDGE

Against four spades, West led the club king to the ace. How would you plan the play? Declarer decided he needed the heart finesse to be working, so he played that suit at trick two. East hopped up with the ace, marking West with all the other critical high cards, and accurately shifted to a trump. Since the spade queen surely had to be with West, South cashed the spade ace-king and the heart king before playing a spade to West’s queen (carefully pitching clubs from dummy on the spades). Since a diamond would have been fatal as the cards lay, West exited passively with a top club. It might appear logical for South to ruff and run the trumps, but if he does, West will abandon clubs and come down to two diamonds and a heart winner. Now declarer can score no more than one of the last three tricks. Instead, South discarded a diamond on the club queen. West could now do no better than exit with his last club. Declarer ruffed and ran the trumps, coming down to a two-card ending with the doubleton diamond queen in hand and the doubleton diamond ace and the heart 10 in dummy. West had still to discard from his master heart and doubleton diamond; whichever he let go, declarer would discard from the other suit in dummy, and take the last two tricks. Had West played a top heart after winning the spade queen, South would have needed to discard a diamond to achieve the same ending — a curious symmetry.

ANSWER:

Your double suggested values; your partner’s four no-trump call suggests two places to play. It makes sense to bid five clubs now; if your partner corrects that to five diamonds, you can bid five hearts, since the 5-4 fit rates to play better than diamonds.

What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? — William Blake