ACES ON BRIDGE

Opening Lead: Diamond king

South had too much to balance with one spade, so she doubled and then bid spades on the next round. North not only competed at his next turn to speak, but he also raised competitively to three spades. At this point, South logically thought she would be facing a bit more for North’s free bid of two clubs, meaning she had more than enough to push on to game. West doubled this in a fit of pique, arguably having bid his hand three times over with no reason to assume his own game contract would have made.

Declarer took the diamond lead with the ace and ruffed a diamond. She then tried to reenter her hand in clubs, but West took the trick with the ace and smartly returned a club. East ruffed and played a heart back to West for a further club ruff, defeating the game by a trick.

Declarer was on the right track by playing to establish clubs before drawing trumps in order to keep control, but she needed a little more book-learning — specifically about the Scissors

Coup. She should have given up a heart at trick two, cutting the defensive communications for their ruffs.

Say West continued diamonds. Declarer would ruff, cross to the spade ace, ruff another diamond, ruff a heart and cash the spade king. Then she would force out the club ace, losing a club, a heart, and a trump trick.

No other return from West at trick three would have fared any better. The defenders could take one club ruff, but East would be unable to reach his partner’s hand for a second time.

ANSWER: Raise to four hearts. Your top cards will cover partner’s losers, and the heart jack will bolster his long suit. Passing would be trying to stop on a dime, and even a 5-3 spade fit might play worse than a 7-1 heart fit. To make the most of partner’s hand, the trump suit must be hearts.