ACES ON BRIDGE

“The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright — And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night.” — Lewis Carroll

We now look at some deals where a strange third-hand play is necessary in order to disrupt declarer’s entries.

In this deal from the Spring National Championships of the ACBL in Philadelphia, three no-trump was the popular contract, and the only question was how many overtricks declarer would emerge with — a critical question at matchpoint scoring.

On a heart lead to the jack, king and ace, declarer cashed both top diamonds and led to the club queen. East took his ace to return a heart. Declarer knocked out the diamond queen and claimed the rest.

Compare that with what happens if East resists the temptation to play without thinking and ducks the first heart. After all, declarer must hold at least one of (if not both) the heart ace and heart

10, so although the play could theoretically give up a trick in hearts, this auction, coupled with a count of the high cards, makes that impossible.

Declarer now leads to the top diamonds in his hand and must next play a club to the queen and ace. East would win and lead the heart king now, and declarer would have to take this in hand. He would be an entry short to bring in the diamonds.

What to do? Would you criticize a declarer who played the percentages and took a finesse against the club 10? After all, that way you get back to par against all the other declarers who were lucky enough to have East cover with the heart king on the opening lead. At trick one, Lenny Holtz as East made the nice play of ducking, and he was duly rewarded when declarer took the club finesse.

ANSWER: I will fiercely advocate that hands with good six-card suits must open one or two of that suit and not pass. However, there is a middle ground between a one-level opening and a weak two. That is the case on a hand like this one, when you have no shape, a poor primary suit and lots of defensive values outside. This makes for a clear pass. (If the heart queen were the king, you might still pass.)