ACES ON BRIDGE

“Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known.”

— Michel de Montaigne In one room in the 2023 Transnational Teams, South declared three no-trump on a top heart lead and diamond shift. He won in hand and led a spade to the six. He hoped to find a 3-3 split, but he saw he could also negotiate a doubleton headed by a nine or 10 in the West hand. East won the spade 10 and switched to the club eight. Declarer could not afford a club loser, so he took the club ace and continued with another spade to the nine, jack and queen. Back came the club 10, and now declarer was at a crossroads.

East might have shifted initially to the club 10 from Q-10-8, to pin dummy’s nine, so perhaps declarer should have placed the club queen on his left and gone up with the king. A diamond to dummy followed by a finesse of the spade eight would then bring home the game. Alas, South finessed the club jack and went down.

At the other table,

South had rebid two notrump, so it looked like he had a doubleton in hearts. West led a passive diamond, covered by the nine, 10 and king. Declarer led a low spade toward dummy and put up the jack. East won and switched to the club eight, ducked to West’s queen. Whatever the merits of declarer’s line, it worked well at the table!

West knew declarer had the club ace-king-jack, and he seemed to have A-10-x in spades. In that case, declarer would have nine tricks, so West tried the effect of shifting to the heart jack. Alas for him, declarer had no option but to put on dummy’s queen — and that was his ninth trick!

ANSWER: Non-vulnerable, I would open one heart to get my strong suit in and suggest a lead to partner, who by now should know not to take my third-chair opening too seriously. I would be reluctant to try anything so flighty if vulnerable, but I admit I might nonetheless open the major at pairs. You only live once.