Bridge

South opening bid promised five spades in the system being played, so North was able to make a limit raise with only three-card support. Playing Acol, you can give a single raise with only three trumps (hoping that partner holds a five-card suit) but you need four-card support to give a double raise. How would you play the spade game when West leads the king of hearts?

Suppose you win with the first trick with the ace. You draw two rounds of trumps with the ace and king, pleased to see the suit divide 3-2. When you run the queen of diamonds, your luck changes. East wins with the king, cashes the trump queen and returns a heart. Two heart tricks bring the defenders’ total to four. One down! To give yourself an extra chance you should hold up the ace of hearts for one round, winning the heart continuation. Since the hearts started 5-2, East now has no hearts left. As before, you draw two rounds of trumps and run the queen of diamonds. East wins but has no heart to return. When you regain the lead you will play your remaining diamonds, throwing the heart loser. You see the difference? By ducking one round of hearts, you break the communication between the two defenders.

With 13 points facing an opening bid you must insist on the game contract. Rebids such as 3S or 3C are non-forcing and therefore poor choices. Guessing games such as 3NT, 4H, 4S or 5C is also a poor idea. By far the best bid is 2D, fourth-suit forcing. This shows a strong hand and asks partner to continue to describe his hand.

AWARDS: 2D (fourth-suit forcing) — 10, 5C/4H — 5, 4S/3NT — 4, 3S/3C — 2.

David Bird — Knight Features

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