BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

♠ J 10 8 6 ♥ 10 8 5 ♦ A K J 10 7 ♣ 8

WHAT do you respond on this hand after partner opens 1 ♠ and the next hand passes? The correct response is 3 ♠ ; however, three additional options were suggested in my recent poll (2 ♦ ,2 ♠ and 4 ♠ ).

So the basis for evaluating such hands is clearly not generally understood. When the hand contains four cards in partner’s bid suit, you must always raise the suit straight away, unless the hand is strong enough to make a Delayed game Raise (13hCPs). You know the contract is to be played in spades, so tell partner this immediately, keeping the diamond suit as a concealed secret weapon.

The good side-suit, plus the singleton, makes the hand much too strong for a simple raise to 2 ♠ . Similarly, it has too many losers and defensive tricks for a direct game raise.

Situations such as this are ideal for applying the Losing Trick Count; it will give you an accurate guide as to the level of your raise. You have eight losers, and assuming that partner has a maximum of seven, you will expect to make at least nine tricks (24-(8+7) = 9). Partner will decide what action to take next.