ACES ON BRIDGE
At Beijing in 1995, the defending Dutch team was spearheaded by Enri Leufkens and Berry Westra. This pair had been the backbone of the team for the better part of a decade, and they certainly achieved a coup on this hand.
The tactical merits of responding light to an opening bid have been generally recognized in modern bridge, so West’s one-spade call is no longer unusual. But it was not so mainstream 25 years ago when Westra responded on his twocount. It seems even more relevant when playing a strong no-trump, and as Westra and Leufkens were playing four-card majors, there was a known club fit of 9 or more cards, giving even more reason to try to cut out the opponents.
The advantage of responding in a major (rather than preempting in clubs) was emphasized rather fortuitously on this hand. Westra found out about his partner’s threecard spade support, with Leufkens’ two-heart rebid showing extras with three spades, and now the best chance to beat four hearts seemed to be to get that suit going.
Westra led the spade seven, suggesting a bad suit, and Leufkens won his queen and underled his club honors, allowing Westra to win and play a second spade, sinking the contract at once. Many pairs sacrificed for minus 300 in five clubs or found the intellectual lead of the club queen against four hearts. That was West’s entry for the second round of spades, and declarer could eventually pitch a spade loser on the diamonds.
ANSWER: This hand is not strong enough for a two-club opening, which would also suffer from the disadvantage of preempting your own bidding space. Open one diamond and reverse into hearts, which is theoretically forcing. If partner has length in one of the majors, you will be on your way to finding a fit at the two-level, not the three-level.