BRIDGE

“A friend of mine thinks he may be a direct descendent of Quasimodo. But it’s just a hunch.” — graffiti

At today’s four hearts, South took the ace of clubs and let the jack of trumps ride. West won and led a second club to dummy. South then drew trumps, cashed the ace of diamonds and led a diamond to dummy’s jack.

When East took the queen, he led a low spade, and South had to guess. He went wrong by playing low, and West took the queen and returned a spade for down one.

“I had a hunch the diamond finesse would work,” South said.

“Did you also have one about the way the spade honors lay?” North growled.

After South wins the second club, he can lead dummy’s jack of spades. Suppose he guesses wrong and loses a finesse to the queen, and West shifts to a diamond. South takes the ace, draws trumps and leads the king of spades, forcing out the ace and setting up a spade discard for his diamond loser. The contract is safe.

Question: You hold: ♠ J 103 ♥ J104 ♦ KJ852 ♣ AK. Neither side vulnerable. The dealer, at your right, opens one heart. You pass, the next player bids two hearts, two passes follow. Now what?

Answer: At IMPs or Chicago scoring, you might pass to avoid a major disaster. At matchpoint duplicate, balance with a double. You don’t want to let the opponents play at the level of two when your side has a share of the points and probably has a decent trump fit somewhere.