Bridge

This deal from a duplicate hides a lot of secrets in plain sight. What do you think of the auction given, and what should East do now?

Every other West opened two hearts, where, in second position, you promise a textbook hand because one opponent has passed. West judged his hand too good for two hearts. Over North’s takeout double, East redoubled to show 10-plus points and deny four hearts. When South passed, West rebid two hearts to warn of minimum or subminimum values.

North’s second double was crazy. South was marked with a weak hand and no long suit. If North had passed, East-West would have ended in four hearts.

When North doubled again, East bided her time, then chose to double two spades for penalty. All four Wests in four hearts went down because Norths cashed three spade tricks and shifted to a diamond. No one found three no-trump.

Against two spades doubled, West led the heart ace, switched to the club eight, ruffed the third club and tapped dummy with a high heart. South should have ruffed low and played on diamonds, but he ruffed high, drew two rounds of trumps ending in hand and played a diamond to the king. When East took the trick and returned her last spade, South won and cashed the diamond queen, but lost the rest. Down three, plus 500, was a top for East-West.