ACES ON BRIDGE

The renown which riches and beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

— Sallust

East-West defended accurately on this deal from a teams match.

At this vulnerability, the three-club preempt was sound by modern standards (many would act even without the club ace — whether they should or not), but South had too much playing strength to give way. He had no idea which side could make what, so he leaped to game in spades as a two-way shot.That worked well today, when neither opponent had anything to say and dummy provided a modicum of trump support plus a potential source of tricks.

South ruffed the top heart lead and advanced the spade king. East took the ace and naturally shifted to a diamond, his choice of the nine suggesting no interest in the suit. This was covered by the 10 and queen, and now West could place the diamond jack with declarer, so he could not afford a diamond return. He sought to kill dummy’s long suit instead, hoping declarer would eventually have to play diamonds himself.

When West shifted to a club, declarer finessed; East captured dummy’s club queen and correctly returned the suit to remove declarer’s entry to dummy. With the long clubs dead, South could do no better than try the diamond finesse, ending up with nine tricks.

Had West defended passively by leading a second heart, declarer simply would have drawn trumps and taken the club finesse. East would have done best to duck, but then South could have succeeded by reverting to diamonds rather than repeating the finesse for the club king.

ANSWER: This is far too good a hand for a bid of four spades. Start with a cue-bid and make a simple bid in spades next, which will be forcing. Even after the cuebid, a jump to four spades at your next turn doesn’t really seem to be enough; slam might make, facing the right 9-count.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com