ACES ON BRIDGE

After North showed four hearts and longer spades while forcing to game — the Smolen convention — South finished in four spades.

West eschewed the top heart lead, preferring a passive trump. Declarer could see eight tricks if spades were 3-2, which seemed likely, and two more could come from diamonds.

However, from declarer’s perspective, if he were to draw trumps and then take a diamond finesse, West might be able to win and shift to hearts, probably scoring three tricks there.

Declarer therefore planned to knock out the diamond king before all the trumps were drawn so he could ruff the third heart in hand. He took the spade ace, crossed to the spade king and ran the diamond 10. Had West won the trick, the contract would have made with ease. That player did much better by holding off, no doubt divining the layout by his partner’s failure to cover an honor with an honor.

Declarer now assumed the diamond finesse was working, so he pulled the last trump and then played to the diamond queen. Unfortunately for him, West pounced with the diamond king and shifted smartly to the heart three. Declarer played small and was one down.

West’s defense was enterprising, but if declarer had respected his opponent, he would have come home. Surely a competent West (as this player had already proven to be) would have shifted to the heart jack if he had it, surrounding declarer’s 10. Therefore, going up with the heart queen was the only chance.

ANSWER: Bid two hearts. The strong heart holding, 5-3-3-2 shape and small doubleton in spades make a raise preferable to a one-no-trump rebid. Two hearts should be the right part-score, and a raise might stimulate a positive move from partner. It is a good rule of thumb that a three-card trump holding and a ruffing value equate to a four-card holding.

“Any conversation I have about innovation starts with the ultimate goal.”

— Sergey Brin