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Bridge  A simple auction carries you to a game in hearts. How would you play this contract when West leads the four of spades to East’s king and East continues with the ace of spades? You ruff the second spade and must now consider how to play the trumps. The risk is that they will break 4-1 and you will lose control of the hand. Suppose you start by cashing the king and ace of trumps, East showing out on the second round. There will be no way to recover. If you play the diamond queen, for example, East will win and play another spade, reducing you to one trump while West has two. West will be able to cut off dummy’s clubs by ruffing the third round. The safety play to retain control is to finesse dummy’s nine of trumps on the second round. As the cards lie in the diagram, the finesse will win. You can then cash the ace of trumps, return to hand with a club and draw West’s last trump. This will give you five trumps and five clubs. Suppose instead that a finesse of dummy’s trump nine loses to East’s jack. Trumps will then have broken 3-2. You can ruff the next spade in your hand and play a diamond to the queen. If East wins and plays a fourth spade, ruff in the dummy, cross to your hand with a club and draw the last trump. Ten tricks are yours whether or not the finesse of the trump nine succeeds.
What will you say on the West cards?
 Answer
Your bid will depend on which system you play. In the USA, players treat a rebid of 3S as forcing, even if the initial 2D response was not game-forcing. So, Americans would rebid 3S. In standard Acol, which may New Zealanders play, a rebid of 3S is a non-forcing limit bid. You must therefore rebid 4S or bid an artificial 3C (fourth suit forcing), intending to bid 3S, now forcing, on the next round.
AWARDS: 3S (if forcing in your system) or 3C (fourth-suit forcing) —10, 4S — 9, 3S (if a limit bid) — 4.
David Bird — Knight Features
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