|
Bridge
 North’s
3NT showed a sound
raise to game in hearts. Many South players would have rebid 6H. The
scoring table awards no bonuses for short auctions and I admire South’s
discipline in checking that the ace and king of trumps were not
missing! How would you play this slam when West leads the jack of
clubs? At your local club there are no doubt a few players who would
draw trumps and take the spade finesse. There is no need to rely on
this chance immediately. After winning the club lead you should draw
trumps in three rounds, ending in the dummy. You then play the king of
clubs, throwing a diamond from your hand. The time has come to play
ace, king and another diamond. If East wins, or the diamonds do not
break 3-2, you will have to take the spade finesse. When the cards lie
as in the diagram, West will win the third diamond and be end-played.
He will have to lead away from the king of spades or concede a
ruff-and-discard. Since you have a further discard to come on dummy’s
fourth diamond, you will make the contract in either case.
 Answer
You have excellent
support for the suit of partner’s jump shift and should show this
immediately with a raise to 3S. Partner will not have made a jump
shift when holding two suits, so there is no point in bidding your
clubs. If you do, later giving preference to spades, partner will not
believe you have such good spade support.
AWARDS: 3S-10, 3C-7,
4S-3.
David Bird — Knight Features
|
