ACES ON BRIDGE

to ruff the third club high, you could then trump a heart before ruffing your last club with the diamond jack. However, East would overruff and play the spade king and another spade, stranding you in hand to concede a trick to the diamond 10.

Instead, simply duck a spade to endplay East. If he returns a trump to dummy’s jack, it allows you to score the rest of your trumps separately. However, a spade return is no better for the defense.

You ruff the spade king, cross to the diamond king, throw a club on the spade queen and ruff a spade. Next, you ruff a club with the jack. East can overruff but has to return a trump into your ace-eight, and the marked finesse lands your contract. As South, once you elect to start by responding two diamonds rather than a negative double, your partner has good reason to play five diamonds rather than three no-trump. West leads the spade five to the nine and ace. You ruff a club and then return to the heart king to ruff another club, felling the ace, before throwing a spade on the heart ace and leading a third heart. When you do, East discards a spade, and you ruff. What do you know about the hand at this stage?

East started with five spades for his overcall, and only two hearts. Since East did not pitch a club on the third heart, he is likely to have a 5=2=4=2 distribution, so ruffing another club will not work. If you ruff with the jack, East will overruff, cash a spade and return a diamond, awaiting a trick with his diamond 10. If you were

ANSWER: You must do something with so much shape, but bidding either of your suits would preclude finding a fit in the other one. Make a Michaels cue bid of two spades instead, to show hearts and a minor. You would prefer to have more strength to force to the three-level, but this at least brings both suits into the picture, and your shape almost makes up for the missing high cards.