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South’s 4H may look somewhat wild, over East’s 12-14 INT, but the hand is difficult to express. You could start with a double, or bid 3H. The trouble with the latter call is that partner will have no idea that the club queen is a good card and the red-suit kings are valueless. Anyway, how would you play Four Hearts doubled when West launches the defence with ace and another diamond? The original declarer, in a Southampton League match, ruffed East’s king of diamonds at Trick 2 and played two top trumps, leaving a master trump at large. His next move was to lay down the ace of clubs. Not the best! East claimed two club tricks on the club continuation and there was still a trump trick to lose. That was one down. It was a weak effort by the declarer. Before playing on clubs, he should have played another trump to discover who holds the queen of the suit. When West shows up with this card, he is known to have started with seven points.
The remaining points, in particular the king and queen of clubs, must lie with East. Declarer uses his one entry to dummy, the spade ace, to lead a club towards his hand. If East declines to split his honours, a finesse of the jack will win. With only one club trick to be lost, the doubled game is made. Most of the world’s declarers cannot be bothered to count the hand-either the points or the shape. Become ‘one of the few’ and you will shoot ahead of them. Answer You are worth only a game try, rather than some immediate game bid. Which is better -2NT or 3H? You can expect partner to hold six hearts on this auction because he has not rebid in notrumps or in another suit, nor raised your spades. Also, you have no sound stopper in clubs. I make a raise to 3H best. AWARDS: 3H-7, 4H-6, 3NT-4.
David Bird — Knight Features
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