ACES ON BRIDGE

Every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue.

— Demosthenes

The most popular win at the 1997 Dallas Spring Nationals was in the final event, the Open Swiss Teams. Edgar Kaplan had been battling cancer for a couple of years and had not been able to play all that much, but he paired up with Geir Helgemo to win the event.

Kaplan was dummy when Helgemo produced the play of the year. Put yourself in the South seat and cover up the East and West cards to see if you, too, can win a brilliancy prize.

Richard Pavlicek opened a weak twobid in hearts, raised to game by Ralph Katz. Helgemo tried six diamonds, and all passed. Helgemo ruffed the heart lead, drew trumps and inferred that the hearts were surely 5-4, so Pavlicek probably had a little extra distribution for his bidding.

Since the contract would be easy if spades were 3-3, what if Pavlicek had five clubs, so that spades were 4-2?

There was only one remote chance to play for, and Helgemo took it. He led a spade to the seven, playing West for a doubleton eight. Katz won the jack and returned the five — and Helgemo ran this to dummy’s nine!

This deal produced awe from the other professional players in the event when they heard about it. Duplicate boards were in play, but few had found the initial move in the spade suit, and no-one else had had the nerve to make the second play.

Of course, if West had played the eight on the first round, declarer would have had some losing options.

ANSWER: Do not allow your nice spade stopper to tempt you into bidding two notrump. When you have a fit for partner, you can raise to three clubs and allow him to make the next move. Imagine partner with, say, the spade ace plus five diamonds to the ace-jack, and four clubs to the king. Nine tricks seem a long way away — and even eight may not be easy if the defenders lead hearts or diamonds early.