ACES ON BRIDGE

“Fear is sharp-sighted and can see things underground, and much more in the skies.”

— Miguel de Cervantes

This deal helped the Austrian Erhart team defeat the Truscott squad in the semifinals of the 1998 McConnell Cup.

Two diamonds showed a two-suiter with either major and a minor, so Terry Weigkricht had an easy club lead. Now the American declarer was short of entries to hand to take two diamond finesses even if she wanted to. She ducked the first trick and received a reprieve with a spade shift. Declarer guessed well to duck, and Weigkricht won her ace and went back to clubs. At this point, declarer cashed the diamond ace before crossing to hand to test diamonds by taking the finesse. When neither red suit behaved, South had only eight tricks.

If declarer focuses instead on the two-suited nature of the East hand, she might test hearts at trick three to find East with two hearts. Since South knows the spade layout and can assume West holds at most four clubs for her fourth-highest lead, she can deduce East’s exact shape, 5=2=1=5. Declarer can lead the diamond jack, covered by the queen and ace, then cross back to hand with the spade king to finesse the diamond nine.

In the other room, Maria Erhart ebulliently opened three no-trump in fourth seat. That attracted the lead of the spade queen. Erhart covered, of course, and now West unluckily shifted to a diamond, unable to tell from her hand and dummy’s which minor declarer had. Erhart ran the lead to dummy and now had 10 tricks.

ANSWER: Open one diamond. You have too much playing strength for a strong no-trump opening, which could cause you to miss a game or even a diamond slam. One diamond followed by a jump to three diamonds is the best course of action. Tactically, one no-trump may work to keep the opponents out, but from a constructive perspective, it is better to bid your long suits.

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