BRIDGE 1-15

Barbara Hall, the creator and producer of “Judging Amy” and “Joan of Arcadia,” said, “You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.”

Bridge players usually make conscious choices, but occasionally an expert will produce a bid or play because it “felt right” at the time. In this deal, though, North had the opportunity to offer his partner a choice that worked very well.

South had such a soft 18-point hand that he almost opened one no-trump. (The Kaplan-Rubens evaluation method rates it at 15 points!) However, after South showed a balanced 18 or 19, North used New Minor Forcing to find out that partner had three-card spade support. But he then made an excellent choice, continuing with three no-trump to offer partner a choice of games, North’s sequence having guaranteed five spades. South had an easy pass.

Note that four spades had no chance, with one loser in each suit.

Against three no-trump, West’s best lead would have been a low heart. Then declarer would have had to attack diamonds first to remove East’s entry to his long hearts. When West chose a low club, declarer won with dummy’s nine and played a spade to his queen. West took the trick and shifted to a heart, but South won with dummy’s king and led a diamond. East grabbed that trick and returned a heart, but the contract was safe.

In a 13-table duplicate, six other North-Souths reached three no-trump, each when North raised two no-trump to three. The rest went down in four spades.