October 2005 - 51

thinking bridge -
part 7
Dlr: North
Vul: None

 K 10 3
K6
 Q J 10 8 3
765
Q952
76
N
QJ432
 10 9 8
W E
762
A
S
K
 Q J 10 9 8 4 3
AJ 8 4
A7 5
K954
A2
West
North
East
South
Pass
3
Dbl
Pass
4
Pass
5
All Pass
East leads the Q

Bidding Commentary: North
is too strong to respond 3 to
the takeout double. A non-jump
response shows 0-8 revalued points.
Considering the strong five-card suit
plus the two working kings, North's
hand contains at least 11 revalued
points and is worth a non-forcing
jump response. With a stronger
hand, responder cuebids and then
bids diamonds or jumps directly
to game.

Upcoming TAP
Seminars
teacher Accreditation Program
Barrie ON * Oct. 22-23
Marilyn Kalbfleisch
705-325-0538
emkalb@bconnex.net
Denver CO
NABC * Nov. 17-18
Dana Norton
901-332-5586, ext. 1264
dana.norton@acbl.org
October 2005

Play Commentary: North wins
the A and leads a diamond to the
ace. East cashes a winning club,
West discarding a heart, and plays
another high club. Dummy ruffs
high as West discards a second
heart.
Defensive Commentary: A major
rule of discarding is to keep length
parity with the dummy. Dummy has
four spades, so West should keep
four spades.
Play Commentary #2: This deal
depends upon finding the Q. As
North, your job is to determine
which opponent started with longer
spades. After you draw trumps and
play the K, A and ruff a heart,
you have a perfect count. East is
the easier hand to count since he
started with seven clubs (known
after West discards on the second
club), one diamond (known), three
hearts (known) and two spades. If
East started with two spades, West
started with four. West is twice as
likely to be looking at the Q. Play
with the odds. Cross to the A and
lead a spade to the 10.
Dlr: South
Vul: N-S

QJ5
65
 10 9 8 3
7632
92
763
N
AK 9 2
 Q J 10 8 7 4
W E
AK Q J
4
S
J84
 K 10 9
 A K 10 8 4
3
7652
AQ 5
West

North

East

Dbl
4

Pass
3
All Pass

South
1
Pass

INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS

Chalk Talk

Eddie Kantar
www.kantarbridge.com

South leads the A. (ace from
A-K in unsupported suits. Had
North supported spades, the king is
the proper lead.)
Bidding Commentary: The key
bid is East's leap to 3. Why 3
and not 2? When responding to
a takeout double with a long suit,
particularly a long major suit, the
hand should be upgraded. A six-card
suit is worth 3 to 4 extra points.
This hand has a side-suit singleton
and should be upgraded to a 10point responding hand. Responding
to a takeout double in a major suit
with 9-11 revalued points is worth
a jump response. West has an easy
raise to game.
Defensive Commentary: When
partner leads the ace from an
apparent A-K combination, third
hand, holding Q-J-(x)-(x) normally
signals with the queen promising
the jack (or a singleton). In either
case it is safe for the opening leader
to underlead the king as North has
promised to take the second trick in
the suit.
South leads a low spade at trick
two as he wants a club return before
the onslaught of diamonds begins.
This neat defensive signal allows
the defenders to take the first four
tricks.
❒
51
http://www.kantarbridge.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2005
