Bridge in Dublin

Daily Bridge Club

My summer tour of Ireland began in Dublin, where I played at the outstanding Regent Bridge Club. In today’s deal, my partner slipped on defense. To see if you can do better, cover the West/South cards. Defend as East.

Against five clubs, West leads the jack of hearts: king, ace, deuce. What next?

To beat this contract — and since not every North-South will reach game, you may need to beat it to avoid disaster — West must hold the ace of spades, but unless you have a diamond or trump trick coming (unlikely), you will need two spades.

ENTRIES

If declarer has enough entries to set up and run the diamonds, you are sunk. But if West had a singleton diamond, he might have led it. If South has one and can’t use the diamonds, he may have unavoidable spade losers.

At Trick Two, return a passive heart. As the cards lay, South must lose two spades. At my table, East shifted to the jack of spades: seven, five, king. Declarer later led a spade to his nine and made his game.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ♠ A54 ♥ J 10 8 6 5 ♦ K6 ♣ 9 6 2. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER: You have no good call. To pass is possible — partner’s one spade is not forcing — but he could have 18 points, and you might miss a game. A rebid of two hearts would require a longer or much stronger suit. As the lesser evil, try 1NT despite the lack of a club trick. At least your pattern is balanced. West dealer Both sides vulnerable