Bridge
SOUTH
rebid 2S, apparently a game try, but in fact he was aiming to assess the
slam prospects. When partner’s jump to 4H suggest a helpful spade
holding, he advanced to the small slam via Blackwood. How would you play
six hearts when West leads the queen of diamonds? Suppose you win with
the diamond ace, cross to the king of trumps and cash the ace and king
of spades. The key moment has been reached. If you ruff a spade with the
six, East will overruff and return a trump. You will have no way to
dispose of your other spade loser and will go one down. Australian
expert. Tim Bourke, made no mistake on the deal, which comes from the
National Open Teams in Canberra. He took the first spade ruff with the
ace and returned to the South hand to ruff his last spade with the six.
Whether or not East overruffed at this stage, declarer would have only
one loser.
What should you say now on those West cards?
Answer
A response of 2C would be constructive but not
forcing in most systems and you cannot risk 2C being passed out when you
have primary spade support. A bid of INT or 2NT would not be appropriate
with only one heart stopper and such good spade support. A response of
2S or 3S would suggest a pre-emptive hand. You actually hold a sound
raise and should tell partner this with a cue-bid in the enemy suit.
AWARDS:2H-10, 3S-6, 2S-5,2C/INT-4, 2NT-2.
— David Bird (Knight Features)
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