Goren Bridge

Recent rule changes have made it legal to open one notrump with a singleton ace, king, or queen provided the bidder believes that is the best way to describe his hand. We think that makes good sense for some hands with a singleton spade where horrible rebid problems can result if they open one of a suit. Hands with singletons in other suits can usually be bid naturally, but it is not for us to judge. Is it a good thing? We cannot tell yet. Let’s give it some time.

South’s double followed by a new suit showed a strong hand. North banked on his huge fit and exciting distribution to give partner an adequate play for game. South won the opening diamond lead with his ace, East playing the queen, and took stock. He reasoned that West would have led a club if he held the ace and king, so he mentally gave East one of those cards. That limited West to, at most, the ace-queen or king-queen of clubs, the jack of diamonds, and the ace-queen of spades. That was only 12 or 13 points, so

West needed the king of hearts to justify his 15-17 opening bid.

Mostly in desperation, South cashed the ace of hearts at trick two, and great was the fall thereon, as the late Edgar

Kaplan liked to say. South drew the remaining trump, cashed the king of diamonds to discard a spade from dummy, and exited with a club. He eventually scored three ruffs in dummy to bring his total up to 10. Would South have made this contract after a one-diamond opening by West?