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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

“The surprise is half the battle. Many things are half the battle; losing is half the battle. Let’s think about what’s the whole battle.” - David Mamet

Bobby Wolff United Feature Syndicate

In today’s deal it is not easy to see how to bring home four hearts, so I’ll give you a clue. The successful declarer lost three spade tricks.

West led the spade king, which held. South won the spade-jack continuation, East having signaled an initial holding of three spades. Declarer saw that if the diamond ace was doubleton, then there would be a diamond entry to dummy for a club discard after drawing trump. If not, declarer might run into a ruff should he attack diamonds before drawing all the trump.

South decided to combine his chances. He played a heart to dummy’s king, then another to the ace, noting East’s play of the 10 and jack, which strongly suggested West had the last trump.

Now he played a diamond to the king, thoughtfully eyeing West’s 10. Either that 10 was from A-10 doubleton (in which case he was sure to succeed whatever he did), or it was the start of a high-low signal. East naturally held off the ace, and now South saw that he might well suffer a ruff, if he played a second diamond now.

So declarer found another line. He drew the last trump, then played a second diamond, East correctly holding off again. But now South exited with a spade to his 10, won by West’s queen. West played the 13th spade, and South countered by discarding diamonds from both dummy and hand. West’s forced club return gave South the contract when dummy’s club queen held the trick.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

♠ 9 6 5
♥ K Q 3
♦ K Q J 7 2
♣ Q 7
SouthWestNorthEast
1 ♦Dbl.Rdbl.Pass
Pass1 ♠PassPass
?

Answer: There is something to be said for limiting the hand by rebidding one no-trump. That suggests these values, but I would rather have a little more in spades. The alternative is simply to repeat the diamonds. Of the two, I think I prefer rebidding diamonds. It is easier to explain to partner if it is wrong.