ACES ON BRIDGE
The opportunity for an avoidance play presents itself when you can determine that one of the opponents is the danger hand, either because he has winners to cash or because he might lead a suit that would put your contract in jeopardy, whereas his partner cannot make those plays.
In such scenarios, you should be prepared to invest a trick to achieve your target, or to maximize your chances of keeping the feared opponent off play.
Today’s deal is just such an example; the hard part of the problem is to determine which one is the danger hand; once you have done that, the avoidance play should come easily.
Would you raise one spade to two as South at your second turn? I could go either way. But let’s say you choose the rebid of one no-trump and end up in three no-trump on a top club lead. Good technique is to duck two clubs, trying to cut the defenders’ communications. Having won the third club, you can see your way home in three no-trump even if you only emerge with four diamond tricks — as long as you keep West, the presumed danger hand, off lead.
The way to do this is to lead toward the diamond ace in your hand. If West has Q-10-x of diamonds, there is nothing you can do. But if East has the singleton 10, it will appear at once. You can then successfully pass the diamond jack and keep West off play. Even if you lose to the doubleton diamond queen in East, that would constitute very cheap insurance.
ANSWER: In a normal competitive two-over-one auction, a call of two no-trump here would not be forcing. Today, though, your partner’s bid of two spades shows extras and sets up a game-force, so there is no need for you to take up space by jumping to game. Simply bid two no-trump and let your partner do something more extravagant if he has extras. Otherwise, you will play three no-trump.