Bridge

South shows a very strong hand by doubling and then jumping to 3H. Since North has a little something, he raises to game (a close decision and some players would have passed on those cards). How would you play the heart game when West leads the spade queen? Suppose you win immediately with the ace. When West gains the lead with the ace of trumps, he will be able to cross to his partner’s king of spades. East can then play a diamond through your king to put the game one down. Since East is the danger hand (who can attack diamonds profitably), you must aim to keep him off lead. You can do this by ducking the spade queen opening lead. This breaks the defenders’ communications and West will have no route to his partner’s hand when he wins with the trump ace. You may wonder what would happen if East played the king of spades on his partner’s queen at Trick 1. If you were to duck then, a diamond switch would put you down. Instead, you should win with the ace. Your ten of spades would prevent West from crossing in spades later in the play.

Answer

Even if you play a ‘four-card major’ system you should raise to 2S now. Partner is very likely to hold five or more spades and it is almost certain that spades is your best trump suit. With only three-card support it would be inappropriate to ‘bid one higher after a double’. In general you should compete to the level dictated by the combined trump length. Here it is likely to be 5+3, so you should bid to the eight-trick level. Awards: 2S-10, 2C-6, 3S-5, INT-3.

David Bird — Knight Features

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