Olivia Williams, an English actress, said, “My father was king of the guidebooks and our holidays were always planned, taking us from a great gallery to an ace cafe to a beautiful view.”

At the bridge table, aces are invaluable. If you think your side has the values for a slam, you probably use some form of Blackwood to check that you have sufficient aces. If one ace is missing, you would not set your sights higher than the six-level. But sometimes …

This deal occurred during the final of the Polish Team Championship last year. Look at the North hand. Your partner opens three notrump, showing a seven-card or longer solid minor with no side ace, king or void. After West overcalls four spades, what would you do?

South’s opening bid is called the Gambling Three No-trump. It describes the hand accurately, but risks playing in three no-trump from the wrong side.

Sitting North was Dominick Filipowicz, who knew his team was trailing. He counted his side’s winners and could see one spade, seven hearts and seven clubs – a total of 15. Not allowed the bid nine clubs, he settled for seven clubs!

What, you are wondering about the diamond ace? Well, if the defender on lead did not hold that card, he might not lead a diamond. Here, though, East did have the diamond ace, so he doubled. Filipowicz, knowing what that meant, ran to seven no-trump to put West on lead. Surprisingly, East did not double again, and when West led the spade king, the contract made for plus 2,220.

Tune in tomorrow for the action at the other table.