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Awards: 4S - 10, 3S — 7, 2S — 4, 5S - 3. To be as awkward as possible you should bid 4S. Suppose South had opened 4H instead. You would bid 4S without a second thought. Rather than wait for the opponents to find their best fit, you should make an ‘advance sacrifice’ in spades straight away.
David Bird — Knight Features
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It’s
time once again for a Golden Oldie. West leads the ten of hearts
against your small slam in spades. How can you make the contract
against the adverse lie of the cards? You ruff the heart lead and draw
trumps in four rounds, leaving yourself with just one trump. What now?
If you play the ace, king and jack of diamonds, East will win and
force your last trump with a second round of hearts. Since dummy’s
ten of diamonds is blocking the suit, you will score only six trumps,
three diamonds and two clubs, going one down. Perhaps you conclude
that it would be a good idea to throw the potentially blocking ten of
diamonds away on the fourth round of trumps? A clever idea but not
good enough if East is clever too. When you play the ace, king and
jack of diamonds East will duck! Again you will make only eleven
tricks. The solution is to throw dummy’s remaining heart on the
fourth round of trumps. You continue, as before, with the ace, king
and jack of diamonds. If East wins and returns a heart to force your
last trump, you can now throw the blocking ten of diamonds from the
dummy. The way will then be clear for you to score the nine and eight
of diamonds in your hand.The opponents are
vulnerable, you are not. What will you say? 