“Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.” - Bertrand Russell

Today’s deal is from the 2005 Vanderbilt in Pittsburgh – all the deals in the following week will come from that event – and featured Steve Bloom.

(Suitably enough, Steve is a professor of mathematics.)

On the lead of the heart 10 against three no-trump, Bloom won, pitching a diamond from dummy, and passed the club 10 successfully.

The club jack was taken by West’s ace, and Steve ducked the next heart, won the third, and cashed two more clubs.

On the last club East quite reasonably retained his fifth heart so had to let go of his only diamond, giving declarer a chance.

However, Bloom still had to divine the spade position to make the hand.

West appeared to have a doubleton spade, but which?

There are more doubleton jacks or 10s than small doubletons, but since West had not opened a 15-17 no-trump and already had inferentially turned up with 14 HCP, a doubleton spade jack was impossible.

Accordingly, he was more likely to have started with two low spades than a doubleton 10.

So Bloom led dummy’s spade ace and a spade to his eight, then cashed the spade king and exited with a heart.

If East ducked West’s heart nine, West would have to concede the ninth trick in diamonds.

If East overtook the heart nine to cash his long heart, he would have to play a spade at the end to dummy.

Had East split his spade honors in the five-card ending, the endplay still would have worked in precisely the same fashion.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Bid two clubs, Stayman, planning to correct a two-diamond response to two hearts to show precisely this sort of hand, weak with both majors, letting partner pass or correct to two spades.

This gadget is sometimes called Crawling Stayman.