Fall NABC in San Diego

In November, players flocked to San Diego — a pleasant site — for the 10-day ACBL Fall Championships. As usual, many experts from outside the U.S. attended. In today’s deal from the Board-a-Match Teams, Italian champion Norberto Bocchi won a board with a good deceptive play.

Board-a-Match is a demanding format; overtricks can matter. South played at 3NT, and Bocchi, West, led a spade, won by dummy’s queen. Declarer led a club to his ace and returned a diamond ... and Bocchi played the queen!

Guess

South had a guess. If the queen was a singleton, he needed to duck in dummy to preserve communication. If South took the ace, king and jack and lost a diamond to East’s ten, he might never reach dummy for the two good diamonds.

South must have been suspicious, but he judged to trust Bocchi’s card: South played low from dummy. He wound up with 10 tricks, plus 630, but in the replay, South took 11 tricks at 3NT against a less testing defense, and Bocchi’s team won the board.

Daily question

You hold: ♠ A862 ♥ A72 ♦ 43 ♣ AK 8 5. The dealer, at your right, opens one heart. You double, your partner bids one spade and the opening bidder rebids two hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: If the opening bidder had passed at his second turn, you would pass. Your partner might have little or nothing, and a voluntary raise to two spades would show more strength. But in a competitive position, you can stretch a bit when you have a sound double. Bid two spades. North dealer Both sides vulnerable