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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

” ‘Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,’ the Mock Turtle replied, ‘and the different branches of arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision’.” - Lewis Carroll

Bobby Wolff United Feature Syndicate

Your partner leads the eight of diamonds against South’s four spades. Declarer plays dummy’s nine and you win with the queen. Plan the defense.

Given the strength of your own hand, it cannot be realistic to expect partner to take any defensive tricks. You must look to your own hand. As the cards lie, the most passive defense is to cash the spade ace and play a club, but declarer simply draws trump and leads ace and another heart, making 10 tricks. However, provided partner has a doubleton spade along with the short diamonds he has already advertised, there is a sure way to beat four spades. Can you see it?

If you return a diamond now, sacrificing your second trick in the suit, you will be able to give partner a ruff when you get in with the spade ace, since declarer cannot get rid of his third diamond in time. Eventually, you will score your heart king.

Of course, it might be possible to defeat the contract in a different way if partner had jack-fourth of hearts, but it is better to go for the sure thing with the diamond ruff.

Incidentally, today’s deal is a classic example of why one should NEVER lead middle or top from three small in partner’s suit, unless you have promised three-card support or more in the auction. It is the knowledge of partner’s diamond shortage that will let you defend correctly here.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

♠A
♥K 10 3 2
♦K Q 6 5 2
♣K 10 3
SouthWestNorthEast
1 ♦1 ♠2 ♥Pass
?

Answer: Jump to three spades to show a heart raise with a spade control. This bid does not promise the spade ace (in fact, it is most consistent with either a singleton or void in spades), but it promises real support for hearts and extra values.