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Bridge
 Although
North’s 2NT rebid was non-forcing, showing around 18-19 points, any
continuation by South was game-forcing. His 3S rebid therefore asked
North to choose between game in spades and no-trumps. How would you
play 4S when West leads the queen of diamonds and you draw trumps,
finding that they break 3-2? You need to avoid losing three club
tricks and the safety play is to lead low to the queen on the first
round. Here the seven appears from East and West wins with the ace.
You win the diamond continuation, reach your hand with a heart ruff
and lead the eight of clubs. If West follows with the four, you plan
to run the eight and thereby guarantee yourself two club tricks. If
instead West were to show out, you would rise with dummy’s king of
clubs and lead back towards your ten. Playing the suit in this way you
can deal with most 4-1 breaks in either direction. If instead you
start with a club to the king, West will score three clubs and you
will go down. (You can recover from such a start at double-dummy, by
removing West’s red cards and end-playing him in clubs, but this
would not be a practical line at the table.)
Answer
 Even if you play a
strong 2H opening, it is not the best bid on such a hand. With such a
wealth of controls you can make a slam opposite Q-J-x-x of clubs. You
should show this power by opening 2C. If you risk an opening of 1H
someone will probably bid again, yes, but you risk playing in 1H when
you could have made 6C or 6D.
AWARDS: 2C - 10, 2H
(strong) — 7, 1H — 4, 4H - 2.
David Bird —
Knight Features
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