When it looks good, hunt for even better

Woody Allen quipped, “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.”

Chess players are regularly advised that if they think they have found a good move, they should look for an even better one. This applies to bridge players as well.

On today’s deal, East saw how to defeat the three-heart contract, but if he had paused for a few moments, probably he would have seen the even more profitable defense. How should East have defended after West led the club 10?

The deal occurred during a Bridge Base Online duplicate, which was relevant.

West made a negative double, showing exactly four spades. Then North’s hand would make a good problem for a panel. (My choice would have been redouble, to announce a maximum pass.) When two clubs came back to North, he should have bid two hearts. Two honors doubleton are as good as three low cards.

At several tables, East-West bought it in a club partscore, making nine or 10 tricks.

Against three hearts, West did well not to lead the spade ace. After the club lead, East won with his ace, shifted to the spade queen and continued the suit. West took two more tricks in the suit, and the diamond ace resulted in down one. However, plus 100 was not as good as plus 110 or 130 in clubs.

After winning with the spade queen, East should have cashed his diamond ace! Then, on West’s last high spade, East could have discarded his diamond two and received a diamond ruff for down two. Plus 200 is always a top on a partscore deal.