Bridge
David Bird

East doubled INT for penalties. When South ran to a suit that East had well held, you might expect him to double again. Knowing, from his partner’s pass, that there was a weak hand opposite, he decided to pass. West led a diamond to East’s king and back came a low diamond, attacking declarer’s trump holding. How would you play the hand? The original declarer ruffed, crossed to dummy with a club, and led a trump. Not the best. East rose with the king and played another diamond. Declarer had now lost control of the hand. He conceded four trump tricks, one heart and one diamond, going one down. It seemed a powerful line of defence, forcing the South hand in diamonds, but in fact it gave declarer a chance to succeed. After ruffing the second diamond, he could cross to a club and ruff another diamond. Returning to dummy with another club, he could ruff dummy’s last diamond. The queen of clubs would stand up and he could then promote another trump trick for South’s Q-J holding. Look back to Trick 2. There is only one, very surprising, defence to beat the contract. East must switch to the king of hearts, removing a key entry for the trump reduction.

What would you say now?

Answer

Partner has shown a weak hand with a long club suit. You are weak too and have some club support. Under the old scoring table, players would jump to 5C on such a hand, not particularly worried about any penalty they might suffer because the opponents could usually have done better playing the hand themselves somewhere. Nowadays 5C could be very expensive. If you make a psychic response, such as 3H or 3S, you could end up in 5C anyway. I would pass on the hand.

Awards: Pass-10, 4C-7, 5C-4, 3S or 3H (psychic bid)-3.

— Knight Features

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