“I have this irrational fear of speed bumps, but I’m slowly getting over it.” — graffiti.
Some players seem to fear not drawing trump. Against today’s five of spades doubled, West led two high hearts, and South called and took the dreaded ace and nine of trump. Next, he guided a club to his jack.
If West had won with the queen, South would have managed a rough finesse against West’s ace later. But West won with … Ace!
THIRD CLUB
Declarer called heart return, took the king of clubs and led jacks. When West followed low, South fiddled with dummy’s king, expecting “East’s” queen to fall. When the East folded, the South took only nine tricks.
South would do better not to draw any trumps at all. He leads a diamond to dummy’s ace at trick three and returns a club to his jack. Although West wins deceptively with aces and powers with a heart, South has trump entries on the hand and can set up the long clubs by taking the king and then hitting two clubs in dummy.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S 7 3 2 HAKJ 4 3 D 6 CAQ 5 2. You open a heart, your partner responds a spade, you bid two clubs and he returns to two hearts. What are you saying?
ANSWER: Two spades may be a better contract than two hearts. Partner has only two hearts (with three-card support he would have raised immediately) but can have five spades. Still, if you bid again, you’d be showing gambling interest, and your hand isn’t really worth a shot. Pass.
Southern Dealer
Both sides vulnerable
NORTH
SK 10 9 4
H 7 6 2
DAY 8 7 5
C7
WEST
S 7 3 2
HAKJ 4 3
D 6
CAQ 5 2
EAST
S 6
HQ 10 9 8
DKQ 10 9 4 2
C 6 4
SOUTH
SAQJ 8 5
H 5
D 3
CKJ 10 9 8 3
Southwest Northeast
1 C 1 H Dbl 4 H
4 S Pass Pass 5 H
5 S Dbl All Pass
Opening lead — HK
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