ACES ON BRIDGE

American life … seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good will, complacency, thoughtlessness and optimism.

— George Santayana

When North opened his flat aceless collection, it propelled his side to a delicate game. South did not have the methods to investigate for no-trump, in case his partner had only three-card support. Many, however, would sensibly use a twono-trump rebid by South to ask for trump length and range.

Against four spades, West led the heart 10, declarer winning in hand to lead a diamond to the king, then another diamond. The defense persisted with hearts, which South took in hand to lead a trump to the king. East correctly held off, so declarer ruffed a diamond to hand to play another spade.

This time, East won cheaply and played a third heart. He could win the next trump and force dummy with the long heart, to establish a third trump trick for himself.

For the record, had declarer played a trump to the king at trick two,

East would have had to duck, or declarer could come home on careful play. In fact, only a heart lead defeats the game. Say West had led a club to the king and ace. As the card lie, declarer’s best play is a diamond to the king and a return of that suit, extracting West’s entry for a later club ruff. If West then shifted to hearts, declarer would win in hand and lead a spade to dummy’s king. East could win and continue hearts, but declarer would win in hand again and lead a spade to the 10. He could now arrange to ruff a diamond and knock out East’s spade winner, with the heart king as an entry to the table.

ANSWER: Bid three diamonds. It does not often happen that partner bids your best suit on this auction, so you have too much in the way of support to pass. Picture partner with 5-5 shape, and you will appreciate the potential value of your hand. Keep the bidding alive with a raise to three diamonds, and let partner take over from here.