ACES ON BRIDGE

“Some people are so fond of ill luck that they run to meet it.”

— Douglas Jerrold

Thomas Bessis, who won the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs with partner Cedric Lorenzini, shared his tale of woe from this deal in the first final session.

Bessis ducked the diamond lead, won the second round of diamonds, cashed the club ace and then ruffed a club to hand. A diamond was ruffed in dummy, and another club in hand. Three rounds of spades followed, as declarer ruffed with the heart jack, to reach a four-card ending with the lead in dummy.

North had two clubs and the acequeen of hearts, while declarer had two spades and the 10-7 of hearts. At this point, declarer led the fourth club from dummy and ruffed with the heart 10. When this was not overruffed, the fourth spade presented West with three options (ruff with the heart eight or heart three, or discard). Pitching the diamond would have been fatal, as East would have been forced to ruff and would then have been endplayed.

The heart three was almost as bad a choice, however! Bessis triumphantly discarded the club from dummy, but East could underruff with the heart two to keep West on play. This defense held Bessis to 10 tricks when East scored his heart king.

Of course, West was far luckier than he deserved. Had he ruffed with the heart eight, he would not have been dependent on East’s being able to underruff with the two.

At double-dummy, declarer could have made 11 tricks only by relying on favorable breaks in both majors, but that might have led to a defeat against bad breaks.

ANSWER: The hand is worth an opening bid, with all your high cards concentrated in your long suits, but you would not have a sensible rebid if you opened one club and partner responded one spade. It is best to pass, hoping you can show both your suits later on without overstating the hand. With marginal openers, always consider the quality of the suit you are bidding, as well as your ease of rebid.