October 2015 - 57

Advanced Players

My Bridge and Yours
BY FRANK STEWART

This is a simple deal from a sectional
open pairs in which we registered a
good score because I followed some
old advice. I am North, and halfway
through the session I deal and pick up:
♠Q 9 6 ♥Q ♦K 8 6 4 3 ♣A K 4 3.
Neither side is vulnerable, but my
partner and I have the auction to
ourselves. I open 1♦, and when he
responds 1♠, I must choose a rebid. A
2♣ rebid is possible; clubs may be our
best trump suit, and we may not find
it if I don't show my second suit. The
alternative is a raise to 2♠.
It's true that a raise may land us at
a dreadful contract. Partner may have
a weak hand with four not-so-strong
spades. But I believe in raising a majorsuit response with decent three-card
support and a suitable hand. Auctions
are invariably more comfortable when
a trump suit is set early. If, for example,
partner next bids 2NT, I can try 3♣,
suggesting a minimum with 3=1=5=4
shape, or risk a pass because my singleton heart is an honor.
The problem with 2♣ is that if
partner acted again, I might not know
what to do. If he took a 2♦ preference, I would have to pass. My hand is
a minimum, and if I took a third bid, I
would suggest extra strength. If he bid
2NT, I would have to guess whether to
bid 3♠ (which logically would be forcing since otherwise we might land at a
poor 4-3 fit).

frs1016@centurylink.net

Over my raise to 2♠ (I raise in tempo
because I had thought in advance about
my action over a 1♠ response), partner
jumps to 4♠. That's fine by me. He
knows my style and will be prepared
for dummy to have only three trumps.
West leads the ♣2. The full deal:
♠Q96
♥Q
♦K8643
♣AK43
♠A32
♠54
♥J964
♥ A 10 5 2
♦J9
♦ Q 10 7 5 2
♣ Q 10 7 2
♣J8
♠ K J 10 8 7
♥K873
♦A
♣965
West
Pass
All Pass

North
1♦
2♠

East
Pass
Pass

South
1♠
4♠

Declarer takes the ♣A and leads
the ♥Q. When East wins, he shifts to
a trump, and West takes the ace and
leads a second trump. South cashes the
♦A, ruffs a heart in dummy, discards
a loser on the ♦K, ruffs a diamond
and draws trumps. He finishes with
10 tricks: four trumps in his hand, a
heart, one heart ruff in dummy, two
diamonds and two clubs.
Our result didn't seem exceptional

to me, but plus 420 was worth a good
matchpoint score. At many tables,
North bid 2♣ at his second turn, and
South tried 2♥. Then at some tables,
North took a 2♠ preference, and some
Souths, fearing that North might have
only a doubleton spade and an unsuitable hand, gave up.
At other tables, South more reasonably tried for game with a re-raise to
3♠, and North bid 4♠. Other Norths
correctly jumped to 3♠ over 2♥, and
South went on to game. But at many
of those tables, the auction had drawn
a picture of North's hand for West,
whose opening lead was a low trump.
Declarer won and led a heart, but when
East took the ace, he returned a trump,
and West won and led a third trump.
South couldn't ruff any hearts in
dummy and took only nine tricks.
You may have heard it said that the
most successful contracts are reached
with the fewest bids.
The result on this deal indicates that
some of the old wisdom is still wise. ◾

October 2015 Bridge Bulletin

57
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2015
