|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
West led a spade against 3NT and declarer won the third round, throwing two clubs from dummy. When he played a diamond West showed out, discarding a club. Dummy’s jack lost to the queen and East returned the ten of hearts. Declarer won with the queen in dummy and led a diamond towards his hand. Suppose you had been East. How would you have defended? At the table East rose with the king of diamonds, which blocked the diamond suit from declarer’s point of view. Giving the matter too little thought, East then exited with the nine of hearts. This was very much to declarer’s liking. He won with the ace, unblocked the ten of diamonds and cashed his other heart winner. He could then cross to dummy’s ace of clubs to enjoy the remainder of the diamond suit. An overtrick resulted. This was weak defence by East. He could place declarer with the ace of hearts and therefore should have known exactly what would happen on a heart return. Instead East should switch to the king of clubs! This removes the entry to dummy while the diamonds are blocked. Declarer can finesse the ten of clubs, scoring three tricks in the suit, but West will eventually score a fifth trick for the defence with his jack of hearts. Answer The idea of using an immediate cue bid (2D here) as a very strong take-out double died away many decades ago. It is better to launch such powerful hands with a double and hear what partner has to say. A cue bid can then be used to show a two-suiter. Here a Michaels cue-bid of 2D would show major suits. If you don’t play that method, you must overcall IS, hoping to bid hearts on the next round. Awards: 2D (Michaels)-10, IS-8, Double-4, IH-3. David Bird — Knight Features
|
|||
|
|
|||
