ACES ON BRIDGE
In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
— Sir Francis Darwin
Mastering the standard suit combinations is something that requires time, trouble and the occasional visit to the textbooks. And it is not always so easy to distinguish one position from the next.
Here South sensibly offered clubs as an alternative strain — even the 5-3 fit might have played best if declarer needed to ruff out spades. North was happy to play the suit slam, but after the lead of the heart nine, South saw there was no obvious advantage to playing there — that is, unless declarer went for an endplay rather than attempting to squeeze a third trick out of the spades.
That said, how would you maximize your chances of developing three tricks from the spades? Declarer’s decision to run the spade jack, then later play the ace and king in an attempt to drop the 10, was not a success. This was a better try than cashing both top spades, I believe, though that would have worked as the cards lie, as would taking two finesses or even leading a low spade toward the jack. But the best technical line is to draw trumps, cash the spade ace and continue with the nine, planning to let it run if East plays low.
You next plan to run the spade jack if West follows with a small card. While this line fails if East blithely plays low on the second round from queen-empty-fourth or even queen-third, this still represents the best odds play. And you could argue that if he does find this defense, he deserves to beat you.
ANSWER: A double here is card-showing (typically a strong no-trump equivalent or better, with no clear alternative action). It is not for penalty, but closer to takeout than optional.You should simply bid three diamonds and let your partner take a further call if appropriate.