Bridge Second Hand Rose

The player we call “Second Hand Rose” was at my club today. When the lesson about “second high low” on defense was taught, Rose must have been out on a date with Jiggs the plumber.

Rose was East, and West led the king of diamonds against four hearts. (North’s 2NT was a conventional “limit raise.”) Dummy played low, and Rose signaled with the deuce. West got the message and exited with a club.

South drew trumps. At Trick Four, he led a low spade from dummy, and Second Hand Rose ... with the king! Rose then led a diamond, and declarer was sunk. West’s ten forced out the ace, and when West took the ace of spades, he cashed the queen of diamonds.

DISCARD

South would make his game if Rose played low on the first spade. West would win but couldn’t lead another diamond effectively. South would have time to set up dummy’s spades for a diamond discard. Rose’s defense was intelligent. Rose saw that if declarer had the ace of spades, the contract was surely unbeatable.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ♠ A 9 6 ♥ 4 ♦ K Q 10 6 ♣ K J 9 6 3. You are the dealer. What do you say?

ANSWER: Some players would open one diamond, planning to bid two clubs after a majorsuit response by partner. That is a dangerous sequence since partner might correctly return to two diamonds with a hand such as K 5 3 2, J 9 6 3 2, J 5, Q 2. My preference would be to open one club. If partner responds one heart, I would bid 1NT; I would raise a response of one spade to two.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable