A small slam in clubs would have been an easier contract. Even 7C is very playable, needing only two heart ruffs in the North hand. How would you play the actual contract of 6NT when West leads the jack of spades? Declarer won with the king and saw that he had eleven top tricks — twelve if the diamonds divided 3-3. His first move was to duck a round of hearts. Do you see the purpose of this? First, by losing one trick in a small slam he would ‘rectify the count’. By deliberately losing one trick he would tighten the eventual end position, leaving each of the defenders with one card fewer. The second benefit of ducking a heart was that it would leave only one of the defenders with a guard in the suit. West won the first round of hearts and persevered with another spade. Declarer won with dummy’s ace and cashed four rounds of clubs. Since East held the sole guard in both red suits (as a result of declarer ducking a heart), he was squeezed by the last club. He had to surrender his guard either in heart or in diamonds. What would have happened in a club contract? It is not practical to ruff two hearts in the North hand because of the 4-1 trump break. However, if you take just one club ruff, bringing your total to twelve tricks, the same red-suit squeeze will add a thirteenth trick.
What will you say now?
Answer
A jump response to a take-out double suggests around 8-10 points and is non-forcing. When your suit is a minor, you may make a jump response on a slightly stronger hand because partner is not particularly likely to hold good stoppers in the opener’s suit and game in a minor is a distant prospect. So, here 3C is the best response.
A small slam in clubs would have been an easier contract. Even 7C is very playable, needing only two heart ruffs in the North hand. How would you play the actual contract of 6NT when West leads the jack of spades? Declarer won with the king and saw that he had eleven top tricks — twelve if the diamonds divided 3-3. His first move was to duck a round of hearts. Do you see the purpose of this? First, by losing one trick in a small slam he would ‘rectify the count’. By deliberately losing one trick he would tighten the eventual end position, leaving each of the defenders with one card fewer. The second benefit of ducking a heart was that it would leave only one of the defenders with a guard in the suit. West won the first round of hearts and persevered with another spade. Declarer won with dummy’s ace and cashed four rounds of clubs. Since East held the sole guard in both red suits (as a result of declarer ducking a heart), he was squeezed by the last club. He had to surrender his guard either in heart or in diamonds. What would have happened in a club contract? It is not practical to ruff two hearts in the North hand because of the 4-1 trump break. However, if you take just one club ruff, bringing your total to twelve tricks, the same red-suit squeeze will add a thirteenth trick.
A jump response to a take-out double suggests around 8-10 points and is non-forcing. When your suit is a minor, you may make a jump response on a slightly stronger hand because partner is not particularly likely to hold good stoppers in the opener’s suit and game in a minor is a distant prospect. So, here 3C is the best response.