Daily Bridge Club All in good time

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

When the owner of a movie theater died, his obituary stated that his funeral would begin at 2:10, 4:20, 6:30, 8:40 and 10:50.

There is a time for everything, but some players think the time for drawing trumps is always immediately. At today’s slam, South took the ace of diamonds ... and promptly drew three rounds of trumps. He next led the ace and a low club.

East won and led another diamond, and South took the queen and ruffed a club with dummy’s last trump. He threw two more clubs on the ace of spades and king of diamonds but still had one club left. East got his king for down one.

POPCORN

It’s hard to wait until the movie starts to eat your popcorn, and it can be hard to wait to draw trumps. South must take the ace of clubs at Trick Two, then concede a club. If East wins and returns a trump, South can win, ruff a club in dummy, lead a trump to his hand and ruff a club.

Declarer can then reach his hand with a spade ruff, draw the missing trump and take the rest.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ♠ None ♥ A K J 10 3 ♦ AQ ♣ J 10 9 8 4 2. You are the dealer. What is your opening bid?

ANSWER: A reasonable plan is to open one club. If partner responds one diamond, you bid one heart, then bid hearts again to suggest five hearts plus longer clubs. But if partner responded one spade or 1NT, you would need to bid two hearts: a “reverse” for which most players would prefer more high-card strength. Personally, I would open one heart.

North dealer N-S vulnerable