CARTOON CHARACTERS CONTINUE PLAYING

The "Peanuts" cartoon bridge deals continue to appear. This time, Snoopy, playing with Woodstock and two of his friends, was the declarer in three notrump. What should he have done after West led the spade four?

In the bidding, Snoopy (South) might have opened one diamond because his hand was worth more than its face value of 17 points. The five-card suit and the 7 ace-king points (2 for each ace and 1 for the king) add extra value. The KaplanRubens evaluation method (which gets most players' votes for the most accurate) rates this hand at 18.35 points. Then, though, North would have had a close call. K-R makes his hand worth 8.8 points only, so he should respond one no-trump. Then South would jump to three notrump. Probably East would lead the heart jack, giving North an easy time. He would play low from the board (South) and take two spades, two hearts and five diamonds.

When Snoopy opened one no-trump, North judged well to invite game, and South had a clear-cut raise.

The reader did not learn how Snoopy played until the next day. The game was interrupted because Snoopy had to try to shoot down the Red Baron. When Snoopy returned to the aerodrome, he reported to his captain and asked him what he should have done. When Snoopy got back to the game, he admitted that the captain said he should have led a low heart to the queen.

The truth was out.

bridge

Snoopy incorrectly played on clubs, but the defenders got their spades established and took three spades and two clubs to defeat the contract.

Copyright United Feature Syndicate (Asia Features)