WHAT do you make of South’s leap to 6C? It was a complete gamble. His partner had promised nothing much with his bid of 3H and it was entirely possible that South would have three eventual losers, never mind two. Anyway, how would you play 6C when West leads the queen of diamonds? The original declarer won with the bare ace of diamonds and drew trumps, finding East with four cards in the suit. He next led the jack of spades from his hand. There were two purposes in this. Firstly, if it eventually seemed that East had started with the king and queen of spades, declarer could cross to the heart king and finesse the spade ten. Secondly, by losing the one trick that he could afford to lose (rectifying the count, as it is called) he would prepare the way for a squeeze. As the cards lay, the defenders had no way to beat the contract. If West rose with the queen of spades, he would expose his partner to a subsequent finesse in the suit. West in fact played low and East won with the spade king. Declarer ruffed the diamond return and ran his remaining trumps. West was suqeezed, forced to discard from Q-10-7 of hearts and the spade queen. Only an unlikely heart lead and continuation would have beaten the slam.
What will you respond on the West cards?
Answer The first decision is whether to seek a 4-4 heart fit. Since your shape is 3-4-3-3, and you hold an honor in every suit, it is better to play in notrumps. Do you have enough strength to invite a slam? Not quite because partner has shown 20-22 points, so you can hold at most 33 points between you. Not quite enough when your hand is so flat with no intermediates. So, be conservative (for once!) and raise to 3NT.
WHAT do you make of South’s leap to 6C? It was a complete gamble. His partner had promised nothing much with his bid of 3H and it was entirely possible that South would have three eventual losers, never mind two. Anyway, how would you play 6C when West leads the queen of diamonds? The original declarer won with the bare ace of diamonds and drew trumps, finding East with four cards in the suit. He next led the jack of spades from his hand. There were two purposes in this. Firstly, if it eventually seemed that East had started with the king and queen of spades, declarer could cross to the heart king and finesse the spade ten. Secondly, by losing the one trick that he could afford to lose (rectifying the count, as it is called) he would prepare the way for a squeeze. As the cards lay, the defenders had no way to beat the contract. If West rose with the queen of spades, he would expose his partner to a subsequent finesse in the suit. West in fact played low and East won with the spade king. Declarer ruffed the diamond return and ran his remaining trumps. West was suqeezed, forced to discard from Q-10-7 of hearts and the spade queen. Only an unlikely heart lead and continuation would have beaten the slam.
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