ACES ON BRIDGE

With 25 points between the two hands, stoppers in all suits and no major-suit fit, the tendency is to subside in three no-trump. But sometimes the contract can be tenuous, to say the least, and assumptions, even far-out ones, must be made for it to come home. This deal arose in a trial to select the team to represent the USA some years ago, and declarer was the late Michael Seamon. Seamon died shockingly young, but his talent was undeniable, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in July.

Against three no-trump, West led the spade 10, which went to the jack and king. East returned a low spade, and Seamon put in the queen, which held. Declarer was aware that in order to fulfill his contract, he needed to rattle off eight quick tricks; if the defenders got in, they surely had three more spade tricks to take, in addition to the one already in the bag, plus the club ace. Specifically, Seamon needed five tricks from the diamond suit, plus three from hearts — a tall order. So, at trick three,

LEAD WITH THE ACES

he cashed the heart king and noted the fall of the eight from West. Needing this to be from Q-8 exactly, Seamon had to assume that, being short in one red suit, West was likely to be longer in the other. So he cashed the diamond king, then successfully finessed West for the queen. The heart ace saw the queen drop, and Seamon had his nine tricks for plus 400 and a well-deserved swing.

ANSWER: Had the opponents not intervened, you would have rebid two clubs, of course. But here you do not have to bid

— the opponents surely aren’t going to pass out one heart doubled, are they? With clubs a relatively unlikely place for your side to play, and given your lack of aces, I think I would pass and see what happens next. I’d be prepared to introduce my clubs at my next turn, maybe.