ACES ON BRIDGE

“A single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable thought.”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

In today’s auction, North’s hand is not strong enough for a constructive raise to two hearts, so he temporizes with a forcing no-trump. When South forces to game with a jump to three diamonds, a jump to four hearts by North now would show an original limit raise (not Fast Arrival). So North shows preference with three hearts and then corrects back to four hearts.

On West’s spade lead, declarer can see he must hold his red-suit losers to one, and he would like to do this by conducting two finesses through East: one to allow for a doubleton heart king, and the other to pick up the diamond queen.

Declarer does not appear to have the entries to try both approaches. If he uses the spade entry to run the diamond 10 unsuccessfully, he will have to lead hearts from hand. Finessing the heart jack first is better because if West takes the heart king, it allows declarer a reentry to dummy. However, if West ducks from an initial three-card holding, or if East began with king-third in hearts, declarer will end up having to play diamonds out of his hand, relying on the queen to drop.

The best way for South to combine his chances is by leading the diamond 10 to the jack. If West wins, declarer plans to reenter dummy with the diamond nine for a trump finesse. When the diamond jack holds, declarer can be fairly confident that the suit is coming in. (West might have led a singleton.) He draws trumps with the ace and another heart, landing the contract.

ANSWER: Pass. There is little upside to overcalling at any vulnerability. You do not particularly want a spade lead (partner’s natural lead will suit you fine), and you have neither the values nor the shape to want to compete in spades. Moreover, a one-spade overcall takes up very little space. Give me the spade jack in addition, and now I’m conflicted.