YOU reach 4S and West cashes the king and ace of clubs, East playing high-low. Assume first that West continues with the queen of clubs. How would you play the contract? Ruffing low would not be a good idea. East would overruff and you would lose a further trick to the king of trumps. So, you must ruff with the jack of trumps, East discarding a diamond. What now? If you play a trump to the queen. West will win with the king and lead a fourth round of clubs. East will ruff with the bare eight, forcing your ten and you will now lose a second trump trick to West’s nine. To prevent this trump promotion, you must play the ace and queen of trumps instead. You will then lose just two clubs and a trump, making the contract. Suppose next that West tries a different defense, switching to the jack of diamonds at Trick 3 (after cashing two clubs). How would you play then? You win the diamond switch with the ace and ruff your last club with the jack. If you play the ace and queen of trumps now, West will lock you in the dummy and his nine of trumps will be promoted when you play a third round of one of the red suits. To prevent this you must cash dummy’s top cards in hearts and diamonds before playing two rounds of trumps.
What will you say now?
Answer
Partner’s 3S rebid is non-forcing but you have three potentially useful honour cards and should proceed to game. You can expect at least six spades in partner’s hand, so it is better to play in spades rather than
notrumps.
YOU reach 4S and West cashes the king and ace of clubs, East playing high-low. Assume first that West continues with the queen of clubs. How would you play the contract? Ruffing low would not be a good idea. East would overruff and you would lose a further trick to the king of trumps. So, you must ruff with the jack of trumps, East discarding a diamond. What now? If you play a trump to the queen. West will win with the king and lead a fourth round of clubs. East will ruff with the bare eight, forcing your ten and you will now lose a second trump trick to West’s nine. To prevent this trump promotion, you must play the ace and queen of trumps instead. You will then lose just two clubs and a trump, making the contract. Suppose next that West tries a different defense, switching to the jack of diamonds at Trick 3 (after cashing two clubs). How would you play then? You win the diamond switch with the ace and ruff your last club with the jack. If you play the ace and queen of trumps now, West will lock you in the dummy and his nine of trumps will be promoted when you play a third round of one of the red suits. To prevent this you must cash dummy’s top cards in hearts and diamonds before playing two rounds of trumps.
Partner’s 3S rebid is non-forcing but you have three potentially useful honour cards and should proceed to game. You can expect at least six spades in partner’s hand, so it is better to play in spades rather than
notrumps.