BRIDGE with Bob Jones

West chose a Michael’s Cue Bid with his hand and then bid clubs to show his extra length there, as well as his extra values.

As we’ve said before, these bids can be very effective when they catch a fit, but they can be expensive when they don’t.

It’s not that they are easy to penalize — they are not — but they can give declarer a roadmap to the play of the hand.

South won the opening heart lead with dummy’s ace and made the far-sighted play of ruffing a heart with seven of spades. He planned the hand carefully to guard against East holding all four of the missing trumps — a strong possibility after West’s bidding. The eight of spades was led to dummy’s king and South ran the six of spades, underplaying it with his three. A heart was ruffed with the nine of spades before declarer cashed the ace and king of diamonds. Playing West for the 6-5 hand that he had promised in the auction, South exited with the king of clubs!

West won with the ace and cashed another club, but he then had to play a heart or a club that declarer could ruff with the 10 of spades.

South exited with his eight of diamonds and took the last two tricks with the acejack of spades. Very well played!