ACES ON BRIDGE

“There’s no remaking reality. ... Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.”

— Philip Roth

The following deal is from Brecher and Roth’s book “Focus on Hocus-Pocus.” As South, how should you proceed in three notrump after West leads the spade seven?

You put up dummy’s queen, and when East covers with the king, you duck both this and the next spade. You win the third spade and must now attack hearts.

Leading the first heart to the king would be hopeless. If West has the heart ace, you stand no chance, so you must play East for that card.

What happens if you lead a heart to the jack and ace? You will win the diamond return and duck a heart to East to make your game. That is all well and good, but if

East ducks the first heart, he kills the suit. There are not enough entries to dummy both to set up and reach the established hearts.

With only one side-entry to dummy, try running the heart seven immediately, intending

to finesse against West’s queen (or 10) on the second round. When East wins the heart 10 and switches to a club, you can win in hand and play a second heart to the jack to ensure the contract.

Is that the full story? No! When you lead the heart seven from hand at trick four, West may put up the queen (a truly unnatural play). You must cover the queen with the king, and now when East ducks, hearts can no longer be established. You can get out for one down by eventually endplaying East to lead hearts, but in practice, you are more likely to cross back to hand to lead a second round of hearts, for down two.

ANSWER: After a forcing reverse from your partner, the modern style (which I approve of ) is to be able to bid two spades, natural and forcing for one round. This will serve to locate a spade fit if you have one. Otherwise, you can happily pass a two-no-trump or three-club rebid from your partner. If he has a game force without a spade fit, he can use the fourth suit.