aces on bridge

“It doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”

-- Jackson Pollock

South’s jump to seven no-trump in today’s deal was made with the confidence that his partner had the spade king for his initial response. The six-diamond reply to the five-no-trump ask was for specific kings, so it showed the diamond king while denying the club king.

South did not relax when dummy came down, as he could see that a bad spade break might leave him awkwardly placed. But there was no need to rush things: If spades were splitting at trick one, they would still be breaking kindly for him later on in the deal.

Declarer unblocked his heart winners from dummy and took one top spade from hand to discover the disturbing news. Then he took the king and ace of spades and his second top club, and ran the hearts.

In the three-card ending, as the last heart winner was led, West had to keep his spade jack, so he could keep only two minor-suit cards. If he kept two diamonds, East would immediately be squeezed in the minors. So he came down to the diamond queen and club jack; but now declarer pitched dummy’s spade nine, which had done its job. He could next lead to the diamond king and finesse in diamonds at trick 12, to make his slam.

The underlying technique is known as a guard squeeze because on the last winner, West has to surrender his partial guard in diamonds or abandon control of the club suit. Switch the East and West hands, and the squeeze will not work.

ANSWER: Some play the call of two no-trump in this sequence as a relay, asking for range and the number of trumps in support. Failing that (and one can survive quite nicely without it), this hand is worth one game try, and the most appropriate call seems to me to bid three hearts, showing length and looking for help there.