SOUTH’s 4NT was Roman Key-card Blackwood, with hearts agreed as trumps. The response showed two key-cards (ace of clubs and king of trumps) and the trump queen. How would you play 6NT when West leads the jack of diamonds? Declarer ducked the first round of diamonds. There were two purposes in this. If diamonds broke 3-3, he would be able to score three tricks in the suit — enough for the contract. If diamonds did not break 3-3, the count would be rectified for a squeeze. What does that mean? It means that declarer would have already lost the one trick that he could afford to lose. The defenders would each have one card fewer in their hands and would therefore be more likely to be left without a sound discard. Declarer won the next diamond with the king and cashed the diamond ace, finding that East held a diamond stopper. At this stage he could practically claim the contract! East held the diamond stopper, West held the spade stopper and neither defender would be able to hold a club guard when the hearts were run. Declarer played five hearts, retaining Q/-/7/K6 in his hand. On the sixth heart East had to throw his club guard to retain a diamond guard. South threw his diamond and West had to throw his club guard to retain the spade king. Three club tricks were now made for the slam.
What will you bid over your right-hand-opponent’s take-out double?
Answer The most popular scheme of bidding nowadays is to ‘ignore the take-out double’. In other words, a response of 1H is natural and forcing, just as it would have been if South had not doubled. Still, do you really want to show a suit of four cards to the jack when the odds are high that South holds four hearts? It is better to respond 1NT, showing that you hold around 7-9 points and a balanced hand.
SOUTH’s 4NT was Roman Key-card Blackwood, with hearts agreed as trumps. The response showed two key-cards (ace of clubs and king of trumps) and the trump queen. How would you play 6NT when West leads the jack of diamonds? Declarer ducked the first round of diamonds. There were two purposes in this. If diamonds broke 3-3, he would be able to score three tricks in the suit — enough for the contract. If diamonds did not break 3-3, the count would be rectified for a squeeze. What does that mean? It means that declarer would have already lost the one trick that he could afford to lose. The defenders would each have one card fewer in their hands and would therefore be more likely to be left without a sound discard. Declarer won the next diamond with the king and cashed the diamond ace, finding that East held a diamond stopper. At this stage he could practically claim the contract! East held the diamond stopper, West held the spade stopper and neither defender would be able to hold a club guard when the hearts were run. Declarer played five hearts, retaining Q/-/7/K6 in his hand. On the sixth heart East had to throw his club guard to retain a diamond guard. South threw his diamond and West had to throw his club guard to retain the spade king. Three club tricks were now made for the slam.
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