A magazine from down under

For your bridge friend who has everything, give her or him a subscription to Australian Bridge. This independent magazine appears six times a year. It contains the usual mix of tournament reports, instructive articles, quizzes and an expert panel answering bidding questions.

This deal by Tim Bourke caught my eye. South is in four spades. West leads his heart; East takes two tricks in the suit, then leads a third round, which West ruffs. How should South continue?

East doubled North's transfer bid to show heart length and strength. Over that, a simple agreement is that opener's pass indicates only two spades, two spades guarantees at least three-card support, and redouble suggests playing there, opener having five good hearts himself.

When I looked at the North and South hands in this problem, it was apparent that East had to have four spades. So, if declarer overruffed at trick three and drew trumps, he would have had none left. I therefore discarded a diamond from dummy. Suppose West exits with the diamond king. Declarer wins with his ace, removes East's trumps, unblocks his high clubs, ruffs a diamond on the board and claims.

Because East was a passed hand, Bourke surely didn't have the diamond king. So, overruff at trick three, draw all of the trumps, and pitch the diamond ace from hand! Cash the three top clubs and lead a diamond toward the queen to get into the dummy for the club jack. Much more marquee.

My line works too, unless the clubs are 6-0.

Details at australianbridge. com.