ACES ON BRIDGE
Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.
— Lewis Carroll
This week’s deals focus on Stayman and the continuations after a one-notrump opening or overcall.
Having failed to find a heart fit, North invites slam with a quantitative four notrump. Note: This sequence is not Blackwood — with that hand, set spades as trump by the call of three of the other major as mentioned yesterday, then use Blackwood on your next turn. South has the values to accept the invitation to slam, but with a doubleton heart opposite his partner’s length, it could be right to play in clubs, where he might be able to score ruffs in one hand or the other. To this end, South bids a natural five clubs. This would usually suggest only a four-card suit, but North has exceptional support and can imagine himself taking spade ruffs with his short trump holding.
He therefore raises to six clubs.
Declarer takes the heart queen lead in dummy and sees that, as long as trumps split no worse than 4-2, he can simply ruff a spade on the table for his 12th trick, pitching the other on dummy’s fourth diamond. To give himself the extra chance of finding a singleton ace on his right, declarer plays a low spade from dummy next, to the king and ace. West continues hearts to dummy’s king. Declarer next cashes the spade queen, comes to hand with a top diamond, ruffs a spade high and proceeds to draw trumps. He can then claim his slam.
How many pairs do you think would play six no-trump here, a contract with almost no legitimate play?
Pass 1 ANSWER: Pass. There is not much point to overcalling here opposite a passed partner. You do not have the values to win the auction, and you cannot even be confident that a heart lead is best for your side. If partner was dealt a natural spade lead against an eventual no-trump contract, you wouldn’t want to deflect him from that course.