BRIDGE

YOUR LHO (West) opens 1♠ and your partner doubles. What action do you take after RHO bids 2♦? TRICKY – but you must not let the intervention keep you out of the action. On such occasions you really have to trust partner; his double has promised fair values in all the suits except spades. Without the intervention, you would have to make a judgment whether you were going to bid a simple 1NT or make a jump raise of 2NT. With 9HCPs and such good controls in opener’s suit, you’d probably opt for the latter, and RHO’s 2♦ helps make your mind up. Don’t be put off by the diamond bid: he’s likely to have a long weak suit and doesn’t like spades.In which case, opener can’t have more than a singleton diamond to lead anyway. In practice, North’s double was made on ♠ x x, ♥ K Q 10 x, ♦ K J x, ♣ A Q 10 x and 3NT makes comfortably – but South passed 2♦!