Bridge

West’s 2NT was the Unusual Notrump, showing at least five cards in each minor suit. East’s leap to 5D was somewhat wild but he hoped to cause a problem for South, who was marked with a good hand. South decided to risk a bid of 5H and this ended the auction. How would you play 5H when West leads a diamond and you win with the bare ace? Declarer had one certain loser in spades, so he needed to pick up the trump suit for only one loser. At Trick 2 he made the unusual play of the queen of hearts from his hand. West showed out and East won with the king. Declarer ruffed the diamond continuation and now needed to reach dummy for his next play on the trump suit. A small spade towards dummy achieved this aim. West played low and dummy’s eight of spades won the trick. Declarer now led the ten of trumps. Whether or not East covered with the jack, declarer could now pick up the remainder of the trump suit without loss and he emerged with eleven tricks. Five Diamonds doubled would not have been very expensive, going two down for a penalty of 300, so perhaps East’s leap to 5D was a clever move after all. He was unlucky to find South with a hand that could venture a five-level contract on his own. (Yes, North should have bid 3S on the first round. 3S shows a normal 2S bid; 3D would show a sound raise to 3S.

Answer

If partner has the king of spades and the ace or king of diamonds, you want to be in a slam. It is no use bidding Blackwood because this would not tell you about the king of diamonds. You need to be playing ace-or-king cuebids, where partner can cuebid either an ace or a king. You respond with a cuebid of 4C and see if he can rebid 4D. If not, you will sign off in 4S, knowing that there are two top diamond losers. AWARDS:4C (cuebid) - 10, 4S-6, 6S-4, 4NT-3.

David Bird — Knight Features

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