“But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” – Gospel of St. Matthew

James Kauder’s book “Return of the Bridge Philosopher,” published by Vivisphere, mentions today’s deal as one in which the author could have done better. It features the Dentist’s Coup, an attempt to avoid running into a ruff by the defenders.

Consider how you might play in six spades on a heart lead. As Kauder describes it, he followed the line that would be adopted by 99 percent of bridge players. He won the heart ace, ruffed a heart, and led the ace and queen of spades. West won the spade king and thoughtfully returned the club queen to dummy’s ace. Believing that West might hold a singleton club, declarer attempted to exit from dummy by playing the ace and king of diamonds. West ruffed the second diamond, so South went down one in six spades.

The correct play is to ruff a heart in dummy at trick two, and then to foresee this position and avoid any chance that a defender will ruff in (unless he began with a void in a minor – far less likely than a singleton) by playing the club ace and then the diamond ace. At this point you lead out the ace and queen of spades. West wins the spade king, but no matter how that defender continues, declarer can return to hand by ruffing a heart if one is led, or by winning a minor-suit lead on the board and ruffing that minor high. Now he can pull West’s last trump and claim 12 tricks, making his slam.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: It is tempting to bid two no-trump to invite game, but one no-trump is enough here. Since you have no fit for the only long suit partner might have (diamonds), and your partner is more likely to have a minimum balanced hand than anything else, one no-trump looks sufficient. And remember, partner can bid on with extra shape or values.