DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

A European sextet won the prestigious Spingold Teams at the Summer NABC. Piotr Gawrys-Michal Klukowski, Geir Helgemo-Tor Helness and Pierre Zimmermann-Franck Multon bested a mostly New York City squad led by Andrew Rosenthal in the final, 131 to 98.

GAWRYS gained in today’s early deal. At both tables, South played at three diamonds, and West cashed a high spade and the ace of trumps, then shifted to the jack of clubs. Declarer played dummy’s queen, ducked East’s king and also ducked the club return.

High spade: West for ROSENTHAL then tried another high spade, and declarer ruffed and pulled off a double squeeze: He cashed all his trumps and the ace of clubs.

At the end, West had to keep a high spade, so only one heart, and East had to save a club, so only one heart. Dummy’s nine of hearts won the 13th trick, making three.

At the other table, Gawrys as West found a good defense. At Trick Five, he led the king of hearts, breaking up the squeeze. South had to go down one.

Daily question

You hold: ♠ AKQ642 ♥ KJ ♦ A6 ♣ J 10 9. You open one spade, and your partner responds 1NT. The opponents pass. What do you say?

ANSWER: You can reasonably commit to game even if your partner has a minimum six-point response. Raise to 3NT. Your pattern is almost balanced, and if partner has a hand such as J 5, A 8 6 5, Q 7 5 2, 8 6 5, he will have nine winners at notrump and will be unlucky to lose five tricks first. The 10-trick spade game might fail.

West dealer

Both sides vulnerable