Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Two Club Aces

Opening Lead: Six of clubs.

Three weeks ago I showed a deal where there was the illusion of two aces of hearts. It resulted in an unmakeable game being bid. A similar mistake cost the defenders just three days later. Read on.

The Bidding: N/S got to a makeable 3NT contract. 2H was preemptive and promised a six-card suit and 5 to 10 points. 2NT asked for a feature and 3S promised the ace or king. 3NT became the final contract, but North should have put South in 4H.

The Play: The six of clubs lead was won by West with the ace and a club was returned. East won the trick with the other ace of clubs, but it turned out that it was actually the ace of spades. The ace of spades was partially hidden by the queen of clubs. The Director was called and he ruled that the ace of spades had to be replaced with a club and the ace of spades became a penalty card to be played at the first legal opportunity. When declarer drew trump, East played the ace of spades and declarer made twelve tricks.

What Happened?: Declarer got a top board for making 12 tricks. He should have received a bottom for only making nine tricks in no-trump instead of 11 tricks in hearts.

What’s Next?: My mother told me that things happen in threes. I expect that there will be a similar thing happening soon. I will be very alert!

Bridge Futures: The Richland Duplicate Bridge Club (RDBC) has a game at the Richland Community Center (RCC) at 5:30 p.m. every Monday except holidays. RDBC also plays on the first, third and fifth Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the RCC in the lounge. Call Tom Edwards at 946-1824 for details.

This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Bridge in the Tri-Cities: Two Club Aces."