ACES ON BRIDGE

O let not Time deceive you,You cannot conquer Time.

— W.H. Auden

South pushes on to game facing the jump raise, which is a little pushy, but it rarely pays to try to stop on a dime.

West could lead one of the unbid minors, but he eventually chooses a trump (his best option today) to cut down on ruffs. East could take the spade ace and return the suit, but that would be necessary only if West had led a singleton spade and declarer wanted to crossruff the whole hand, which seems unlikely. East has no quick entries and should duck the lead to keep a link to his hand.

Declarer wins and leads the heart jack to the king and ace. Declarer reenters his hand with the diamond king to lead another heart up, East topping the nine with his 10. East can then play the spade ace and another spade to hold declarer to one heart ruff.

After this defense, the best declarer can do is win the third trump in dummy, ruff a heart, cross back over to the North hand and surrender a heart trick, for one down.

Say East had won the spade ace at trick one and returned the suit. Declarer could then succeed by leading the heart jack from hand, intending to duck West’s king. West would be unable to lead a third round of trumps, and declarer would score two heart ruffs in his hand to make the contract. If West declined to cover the heart jack, declarer could either run the jack and later take a ruffing finesse against East thanks to dummy’s spot cards, or he could win with the heart ace and play another heart (as the cards lie today).

BID WITH THE ACES

ANSWER: Passing could miss a game, but rebidding two hearts is unacceptable, and you lack the values for a two-spade reverse. Rebidding two clubs may be the least of several evils. Partner is prepared for this to be a three-card suit, so your trumps may not be an overwhelming disappointment if you are left there.The alternative, rebidding two no-trump, would be more attractive if you had the heart 10 instead of the two.