ACES ON BRIDGE

3 Opening Gold and misguessed queen, if necessary. NT In took Cup, an intending the All online Lead: South heart pass by Heart leading to quarterfinal played lead finesse seven in a dummy. three the low for club club no-trump Britain’s He 10 to then later the

to king the West to and unblock diamond won finessed with the queen, suit. the the club South king perhaps 10 and won as switched in planned. with an the effort Now South’s the life spotlight easy with turned the to spade East, who 10 return, made covered then unblocked by the jack, the heart king ace, and ace. crossed Declarer back to the club ace, cashed the third heart and returned to his hand with a spade to score the long clubs. Had West played low on the first spade, declarer would have unblocked the club ace and come to the heart ace to cash the clubs.

East would have done better to return a heart, attacking declarer’s communications. As long as

West ducked when South continued with the spade queen, he would be unable to get to his club winners. However, declarer could still succeed by unblocking in clubs, cashing the third heart and endplaying East with a diamond. East would have to lead a spade eventually, granting declarer access to his hand.

The legitimate way to defeat the contract after the first four tricks was for East to cash his diamonds before exiting in hearts. He could not then be used as a stepping-stone; despite having an extra diamond winner, declarer would have to go down.

ANSWER: In third seat, you might consider opening one club instead of one diamond so as to not suggest a bad lead to partner, but opposite an unpassed hand, I would just make the normal system bid and open one diamond; my longest suit. Whatever you decide to open, I can see the case for rebidding one no-trump over a major-suit response rather than passing.