“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” – Abba Eban

In this deal from last year’s Antalya European Open Mixed Teams, many partnerships brought home a game. For example, when North declared three no-trump, it was easy for him to win the heart lead cheaply in hand, cash the spade ace, then make the safety play of leading low to the jack. Now all that was at stake was overtricks.

But when South was declarer in three no-trump on a heart lead, the fate of the contract was up in the air. If South could score the heart queen at trick one, he could take the safety play in spades to ensure the contract. But Sandra Penfold as East hopped up with the heart king at trick one and shifted to a dramatic diamond queen. Now declarer took the third diamond, but did not know who had the jack. So here it was logical to cash the ace and king of spades, trying to keep East off lead – down one.

In four spades, one declarer succeeded by leading to the spade jack immediately. Though it worked, this line might have lost out to a singleton spade queen offside. (Also, if the spade queen were doubleton all along, with the club finesse failing, you might be very embarrassed.)

At their tables Ilan Herbst and Fulvio Fantoni followed the best technical approach, playing dummy’s spade ace and then taking the club finesse. When it held, they could make the spade safety play, the only issue being whether to cash all the top clubs first.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Were you tempted to bid three hearts, or did you settle for the cautious advance to two hearts? Neither action is correct in the modern game. A simple raise could be made with an ace less, or perhaps an even weaker hand. A jump raise is pre-emptive, not invitational. The right action is a cue-bid of two diamonds, suggesting at least a limit raise in hearts.