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ast month, , coached four students while they played deals at Bridge Base nline. ne afternoon, we had a series of ama ing deals. This week, let s look at si of them. :arning The bidding and play are not always perfect, but , hope that we can learn some lessons.

)irst, if you were orth, how would you respond after partner opens one no-trump

That is a matter of partnership agreement. ere, orth replied three diamonds, showing at least - in the minors with game-forcing values or more. outh might have rebid three hearts, hoping his partner would read it as showing a five-card suit (not Must asking for a spade stopper for three no-trump). ,f outh had rebid three hearts, orth would have raised to four hearts, describing her distribution perfectly and letting partner decide what to do if he did not have five hearts.

Three no-trump looks hopeless. The defenders drive out the spade ace, get back in with either the heart ace or club king and run the rest of the spades. But ...

nder :est s spade Tueen, ast signaled with the eight instead of the nine. (Always play the highest card you can afford when showing enthusiasm.) Then, instead of leading the 10 (or seven, his original fourth-highest), :est continued with the spade Mack.

till nervous, ast played her two. ow :est led the spade three, and ast played the nine, not the king.

f course, the defenders were not yet dead. aybe declarer, not guessing that they had blocked the spades, would take the club finesse. But after running his five diamond tricks, he deduced to play on hearts to get home.