Aces on Bridge

At the Dyspeptics Club, the play and defense frequently take second seat to the repartee and insults that take place in the post-mortem. The club has been considering selling ringside seats, but officials fear that the language might be unsuitable for people of nervous dispositions.

Today’s deal was the exception to the rule that the players generally performed at something below the highest level. To start with, North used a piece of delicate modern science to get to game. His jump to three diamonds, by a hand that couldn’t act over one club, showed a heart fit and a diamond suit. This makes perfect sense: You can’t have a single-suited diamond hand and not be able to act with it at your first turn, can you?

Against South’s four hearts, West began by leading the club king and queen against four hearts. It would have been easy for East to sit back and wait for his partner to cash out, perhaps discarding the spade jack to clarify his holding in that suit. But the diamonds were clearly threatening to provide discards for declarer’s spades. So East ruffed the second club and shifted to spades, letting West cash out for down one.

At the end of the deal, East leaned forward, perhaps expecting a small acknowledgment from his partner. Instead, West smiled consolingly and told East not to worry about ruffing his winner, even if it had cost an undertrick. At that point, the trouble started ...