Bridge

West leads the queen of clubs against 6H. Even if you lose a trump trick, you can still bring your total to twelve by ruffing two clubs in dummy. You ruff a club at Trick 2 and then play a trump. How will you continue when East shows out on this trick? The original declarer rose with the ace of trumps and took the second club ruff that he needed. He then played a trump to the queen and king. When West exited with a spade, declarer won with dummy’s ace and cashed the queen of Spades. Needing to reach his hand to draw West’s remaining trumps, he then played ace and another diamond, ruffing with the six. Not the best! West overruffed with the nine and the slam was defeated. Declarer would do no better to ruff high, of course, since this would promote West’s nine of trumps. Do you see the mistake that declarer made? He should not have allowed West to lock him in the dummy. Before playing a second round of trumps, declarer should have cashed dummy’s two spade winners and the ace of diamonds. When West gains the lead with the trump king, it now makes no difference which suit he chooses to return. Declarer will be able to win (or ruff) in the South hand and draw trumps. The play is known as a Dentist’s Coup.

Answers
Your hand is strong enough to justify playing in 4S. However, a direct raise of IS to 4 S suggests a pre-emptive hand with at least five trumps and no more than 9 points. The most accurate response is a splinter-bid of 4D, showing a sound game raise with at most one diamond. If you don’t play this convention (or some form of Swiss), respond 2C to assess partner’s strength.

AWARDS: 4D (splinter bid)- 10, 2C-7, 4S-4.

David Bird — Knight Features

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