Bridge: “The wise man who is not heeded is counted a fool, and the fool who proclaims the general folly first and loudest passes for a prophet.” – Carl Jung

Plenty of people would have followed a less sophisticated auction than the one that North and South produced here, but both players appreciated that there was no point in blasting to four spades prematurely. This is particularly true because South’s rebid of two spades does not promise six – unlike an auction in which South repeats his suit over a one-level response.

On the actual auction South might rebid a decent five-card suit rather than rushing to bid two no-trump with a side suit open, or raising partner with only three trumps.

As it was, three no-trump was indeed off five heart losers, although the contract might have made from the North seat. And, of course, four spades were far from being a hopeless spot; however, South was unlucky enough to run into a wide-awake defender in the West seat.

The heart king was led, and East knew enough to overtake and return the suit. Three heart winners were duly cashed, as East discarded a discouraging club.

At this point West did a little counting. He realized that he had an eight-count, partner had produced an ace already, and dummy had 15 points. That left only 13 points outstanding for South.

It was now evident to West that the only realistic hope of making another trick lay in finding partner with a trump honor. So West brightly led a fourth heart, and East remembered to trump in with the jack, in the process promoting the setting trick for West’s 10 of spades.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: As a passed hand, you have just enough for a bid of two hearts. Because of your initial pass, partner will not play you for the Earth, and it might well be important to introduce hearts early.

A negative double by you might lose the hearts for good if your LHO raises spades at once. If you were an unpassed hand, bidding two hearts would probably be excessive - double instead.