ACES ON BRIDGE

This week, we will be focusing on deals from the 2023 North American Bridge Championships, held last summer in Chicago.

We begin with a hand from a top-flight Swiss teams event, where Aldo Gerli held the West cards. How would you set about trying to defeat the spade game here? (And yes, North might have done better simply to bid four hearts.)

Gerli reasoned that his best chance of setting the contract was to find East with short diamonds, which was not too unlikely after South had responded four spades rather than four hearts, making it relatively likely he had some diamond length. Buoyed by the fact that he had the trump ace as a reentry, Gerli led a diamond, won by dummy’s ace. When declarer played a spade to the king, Gerli won with his ace and continued with the diamond five as a suit-preference signal for clubs, delighting his partner. Declarer chose to put up dummy’s king, but he was toast anyway. John Overdeck (East) ruffed and then ably underled his club honors to West, who cashed the diamond queen before leading a fourth diamond. That legitimately promoted West’s spade jack into an additional winner, for two down.

Four spades was also the contract in the other room, but West led a club, severing the defensive communications by eliminating the second entry to the West hand. The Overdeck team earned their 13 IMP swing. At pairs, the opening lead would be more difficult to spot, because the diamond lead might give up a diamond trick or allow a losing club to be discarded, but the trump control still makes the diamond lead a reasonable one.