Bridge

East opened a weak two on his solid five-card suit and South was faced with quite a problem. He began with a double, learning little from his partner’s minimum response in clubs, and then jumped to 5S. Some would say that this asks for a heart control. North did not ascribe such a limited meaning to the bid. It was unlikely that South had two top heart losers and was also missing the diamond king. He raised to six and West led the three of hearts, an obvious singleton. How would you play 6S? Declarer won with the heart ace and played two rounds of trumps. All would have been easy with a 2-2 break. Declarer would cross to the diamond king and run the jack of clubs into the safe hand (West has no heart remaining). Dummy’s last trump would remain as an entry to the established club. Unfortunately, East showed out on the second trump. What now? Declarer did not give up. He drew West’s last trump, cashed the club ace-king and led the ten of diamonds to dummy’s jack. When this finesse succeeded, he led the jack of clubs and threw the ace of diamonds! West won with the club queen but then had to revive the two minor-suit winners in dummy. Away went declarer’s losing hearts and slam was made.

Answer

You want to be in game, at least, but it is not clear which suit should be made trumps. Partner might hold only four spades, so it is risky to raise spades immediately. The best rebid is a game-forcing 3C. If partner bids 3H or 3S next, you will know the trump suit. If he rebids 3NT you should pass, having already shown a great hand.
AWARDS: 3C-10, 4H/4S-6, 3NT-4, 3H/3S-2.

David Bird — Knight Features

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