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You must seek to avoid two diamond losers when the suit breaks 4-1. Declarer won the heart lead, drew trumps in three rounds, and ruffed a heart, eliminating the suit. He next cashed three rounds of clubs, eliminating that suit. He then led the two of diamonds from his hand. West played the 3 and dummy the 5! This card won and the slam was home. If East had won with a singleton diamond honour, he would have been endplayed, forced to give a ruff-and-discard. If instead East had won with an honour from Q-J 10-4, he would have had to exit with another honour, won with dummy’s king, and declarer could then have picked up the rest of the suit. On the actual layout it would make no difference if West had inserted a high diamond on the first round. Declarer would duck in dummy, endplaying West. The contract was cold, however, the diamonds lay.
Answer You should raise to 4S in an attempt to shut out the opponents. Such a jump shows good playing strength in spades but little defence. If you held four spades and a 13-count, you would cue-bid 3C instead. You can see how useful it is to be able to tell partner whether your hand is weak or strong. It will help him to decide what to do if North bids 5C. — Knight Features |
North’s
4S rebid showed a flat hand. With a singleton club, for example, he
would rebid 4C — a splinter bid, agreeing spades and showing club
shortage. North’s Roman Key-card Blackwood response showed two aces
and the trump queen. How would you play 6S on the heart king lead?
What
would you say now?