ACES ON BRIDGE

“Thieves respect property; they merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.”

— G.K. Chesterton

This week’s deals are taken from the 1999 trials to select team USA2 for the 2000 Bermuda Bowl. Team Nickell had already qualified as USA1, but there was still much to play for.

On this board from the quarterfinals, Mark Lair as South found a neat swindle to steal his part-score contract. After a 1012 one-no-trump opening by Fred Stewart as East, Ron Smith as North reopened with a bid of two diamonds, a transfer to hearts, and Lair therefore declared the contract from the South seat.

Life would have been easy on a blacksuit lead, and the contract surely would have received a favorable lead if declared by North. However, with South as declarer, the defense found the challenging trump lead, and Lair decided to win the trick in hand. What to do next?

He had six fairly sure winners, and if he had tried to set up his club ruff, he never would have made an eighth trick. Even if the spades had been lying well, he would have been unable to establish a trick there and still arrange the club ruff with no entry back to his hand outside the trump suit.

The key to the hand is the spade 10 in dummy. Lair appreciated that when he advanced the spade queen at trick two. When Kit Woolsey as West reasonably ducked (Stewart following with the spade jack, just to rub it in!), Lair had stolen his extra trick and had the tempo he needed. He now switched his attention to clubs, and with the aid of the club ruff, he wrapped up plus 110.

ANSWER: Lead the heart two. This could give away a trick, but you may need to set up winners quickly, with the minors seemingly well placed for declarer. I can also see a case for a spade lead up to declarer’s shortage, but this could concede a valuable tempo if it is wrong.